Outlaw Galaxy: Old Habits Die Hard
by Julesville
Summary: What happens when unresolved issues fester? You get angst, resentment, and envy! Sazuka becomes a sexual predator, Jean a co-dependent, Aisha a bitter shrew, and will the appearance of an old friend help or heal the crew? CHAPTER 5 FINALLY UP!!!!
1. Friends Don't Let Friends Drink Alone

Fumo presents…  
A fan fic based on a product he doesn't own, and makes no claim to…  
Outlaw Star:  
Old Habits Die Hard  
  
Rated: PG-13, for violence, language, suggestive themes, and all around "good" fun!  
  
Set one year after the Leyline debacle, where the crew of the Outlaw Star etch out a living in this big dark universe, clueless of the dangers that lie with out and within…  
  
Chapter 1  
  
With silent smoothness, the Outlaw Star slipped into the wide docking berth of the Free City of Blue Heaven. There was a slight twinge as it penetrated the magnetic field, separating the coldness of space with the artificial heated atmosphere of the asteroid of Blue Heaven. It sailed to a stop at one of the dry docks near the back, and abruptly stopped as two clamps reached out and held it fast.  
  
With in minutes, the gang plank from the ship extended to the firm metal bridges of the docking bay, and the door of the ship raised.  
  
The first one to was a young yellow headed boy, who walked down the ramp and placed his hands behind his head in a relaxed position, "Here we are in Blue Heaven again."  
  
The next to leave, was a young Katarl Katarl women with a vibrant look about her, "Yeah, I remember the last time we were here, Jim. You took me to dinner and then left me to pay that gigantic bill."  
  
Jim smiled apologetically, "Yeah, sorry about that, Aisha."  
  
Aisha Clan Clan bounced down the ramp, "That's ok, water under the bridge, no use crying over spilt milk. I should have figured that a bum like Jean, couldn't afford it..."  
  
She was silenced by the next person shoving her over onto the ground, a red hair fellow with a grumpy demeanor, who mumbled as he walked by. Aisha snorted as she smashed on top the ground, and Jean walked down the ramp and surveyed the docks with his back to the crew.  
  
"Well, Jean seems to be in a grumpy mood today." said the raven haired assassin as she descended.  
  
"Don't worry about him, Suzuka, he's just like that when he doesn't get enough sleep." said the cute young girl with fine black hair as she walked out of the Outlaw Star's doorway.  
  
Sazuka turned back to the girl with a devilish smile on her face, " Oh Melphina? And how is it you know that he doesn't get enough sleep, hmm?"  
  
Melphina blushed and looked down. It was common knowledge that Melphina and Jean were spending nights together. Now it was casual, but before the two had tried to keep it a secret. There was a very weird story among the crew that involving; Melphina, Jean, the captain's chair, and Jim and Aisha returning early from the movies, that the crew was still trying to forget.  
  
A smile slide across Aisha's face as she rose of the ground, "Yeah... I bet you kept him all night long, Mel."  
  
Melphina blushed even more.  
  
Jim shook his head, as he muttered, "Blunt as ever..."  
  
"Knock it off you two." Jean said as he turned back around, "OK.... captains orders are... Sazuka get a list from Mel and go get all the supplies we need, Jim and Aisha, contact the dock crew get the necessary equipment, work on the electrical systems, engine systems, and the hull damage from that last scuffle wit dem damn pirates, Mel, honey, could you start breakfast? That's everything..."  
  
"Wait a minute, Starwind! What about you?!" Aisha yelled indignantly.  
  
Jean put an innocent look on his face, "Me? Well I'm just gonna go get smashed, that's all.  
  
"Wait, we have to work our asses off, while you go get wasted."  
  
"It's called a captain's leave, and I'm taking it. I hear a bottle of brandy calling my name..."  
  
"Wait, you..."  
  
"Wait, wait, wait, no more waiting. You've got a job to do, and I've got a blood alcohol level to raise." Jean interrupted as he turned to leave.  
  
"Jean you lazy ass slut!" Jim yelled after him.  
  
"It's 10 o'clock in the morning..." Sazuka muttered.  
  
Melphina just looked on disapprovingly.  
  
"Do you hear that... it's calling me, Jean... Jean... Jean, drink me Jean..." Jean said as he sashayed out of the docking bay.  
  
Several moments later, Jean found himself in the corridor where the docking bays connected with the actual city. The city, was one enormous bio-dome that cut the asteroid nearly in half, set deep in the stone. The city was straight forward with in that dome, thousands of streets and buildings, lit by the light of the star Mordant. Within the asteroid was thousands of tunnels and caverns intertwining and connecting, mainly from the docking bays to the city, but some places included government complexes, secret bases, shanty towns, and miles of mines.  
  
Blue Heaven was originally the site of a human mining colony set up by a major company, to mine the asteroid's stores of the blue ore Tantium, hence the name Blue Heaven. An entire city sprouted where the colony was. When the ore was all gone, the company packed up and left, the y miners, however, most of who had grown up there, couldn't afford to leave, so they stayed. Soon, Blue Heaven became a trader's colony, where many races went to trade, deal, and buy all manner of things.  
  
As it was run by scruffy miners and outlaws, the laws where very different here. Virtually no drugs were banned, cyber drugs were fair play too, anything could be sold, even people, slave trade is often conducted here, the legal age was 15, duels were allowed as well, Blue Heaven banks were the perfect place to launder money, assassins, thugs, and mercenaries could be bought there, sex, in any form, was not a crime either, it was a practically lawless place.  
  
Jean walked up to the lift at the end of the tunnel. The lift was a very large elevator, though not as nearly as large as the service lifts, that carried travelers from the loading bay to the main city.  
  
Jean only had to wait a few minutes, before the door opened, and he could go in. He was practically the only one in the lift this run, port traffic wasn't so big this time. Instantly as the doors closed the lift attendant sent it sailing up.  
  
Jean noticed the attendant on his quiet ride. Short skirt, showing much of her salutary legs. Her tight red vest, accentuating her cleavage even more. Long blonde hair flowing down her shoulders. She had one of those non-impact blaster pistols, specially made pistols that hurt people but not structures, strapped to her leg, showing how dangerous and uncouth Blue Heaven really was.   
  
The attendant caught Jean's glance and turned her head to meet his stare. She smiled at him, then winked.  
  
Jean turned away to the girl's dissatisfaction.  
  
It was still amazing to Jean, only a year ago he would have been all over that girl, wither she had given him the go ahead or not, but now, every since he fell in love with Melphina, he felt no attraction to other girls. He was happy and contented  
  
The lift slowed to a halt, and the doors slide open.  
  
Jean glanced to the side where the attendant was seated, in his low "playa's" voice, "Thanks for the lift…"  
  
She smiled at him seductively, "I can give you a better one…"  
  
Jean stopped and smiled to himself, "Save it…" and he continued.  
  
Before him was the outlaw's city of Blue Heaven. The giant bio-dome with it's bleak view of the other floating rocks over smudged buildings, crummy, seedy bars and shops littering the avenues, dirty, skanky outlaws and vagrants wandering the streets in search of a drink, a fight, or whatever other perverse pleasure they made their living off of.  
  
Jean took a deep breath of the musky recycled air of Blue Heaven, his home away from home.  
  
------  
  
Jean wondered the dirty streets until he found a nice bar he could sit in and have a morning drink. A total dive at first glance; a wooden shack, a concrete floor with a drain for spilled liquids, rickety chairs and tables, and lots of garbage around, with the slightest hint of vomit and urine in the air.  
  
However, to Jean it was quiet place, with an adequate or semi-adequate glass of whisky in peace, and his only company would be those few hardcore drunks that would probably be asleep or dead.  
  
Sure enough, he was right. Upon entering the seedy bar, he view two of the nastiest looking drunkards he'd seen in a long time, one on sleeping at a table, the other on the floor passed out or dead.  
  
Jean was happy as could be. This was just the spot he was looking for, where he could forget the troubles of his failing company, and indulge in the delightful taste of his old Kentucky favorite.  
  
Smile on his face, he walked to a nice table with his back to the street. Pulling out the irregular chair, he accidentally awakened the drunk sleeping at the back table. The fellow looked up warily for what awakened him, wiping a globular of spit from his lips.  
  
Jean kept his chuckle to himself, waving his hands apologetically, "So sorry old man, it's just me. Go back to sleep."  
  
Taking Jean's advise, he slurped the last of his glass, and fell face first on the table.  
  
Jean laughed out loud, then turned slightly back to the bar counter, "Yo bartender!"  
  
Like on command, the bartender placed a bottle of Aquan Sea Brandy and two glasses on the table in front of him, then walked off.  
  
Jean picked the bottle up and examined it. An Aquan Sea Brandy was a fairly common brand of cheap brandy, except when it turned. It was commonly brown when it's first bottled, but over time the taste ripens and it turns a teal color. By the looks of this bottle, it was on it's way to turning.  
  
"Hey, I didn't order this!" he yelled back  
  
He was answered by the sound of a gun clicking from behind him, and a hard metal shaft sticking into his back.  
  
A myriad of complex anylizations flowed through his head in that split second. A mixture of instinct, training, and self-preservation calculated equations and vectors to give him a solution to his present dilemma. The simple fact that this person stuck the gun barrel in his back, gave him an edge.  
  
The fact that the gun was pressed to his back, let Jean figure where the gunman was situated behind him, a rookie mistake. From that he reasoned, that this person had chosen not to shoot him from afar, he wanted to get close enough for a point-blank shot, another rookie move. The correct execution style is double "taps" from afar, a shot in the back was for show offs. Yet another mistake, as he waited to get close, he could account for Jean's hands, which, one at least, was at his hip. If he had a good reason to wait, which didn't seem likely, he would need to order Jean's hands where he could see them, once against, a rookie mistake.  
  
A nano-second later he had his solution; he would grab his gun and ice this pretender, then go back drinking the brandy the dead man had been so kind in buying him. The brandy was obviously a trademark of this gunman, another show off's insignia.  
  
Jean's hand dove to his side, grabbing his gun and pulling it free from the belt clip. In that same pull, he spun the gun on the edge of his middle finger and switched to his thumb, so that it was upside down and facing back and up into the gunman. He would end this.  
  
But something happened, the pretender's foot was readied, and before Jean could fire, the gunman kicked it from his hand.  
  
With those few clinks as the gun hit and bounced of the ground, Jean realized his mistake. The gunman had anticipated his move and was ready for him. He let himself appear as a rookie, it tricked Jean and he fell into the gunman's trap. This was no rookie, but he was a show off, with skills to back it up.  
  
Jean stopped breathing. He could feel his fate jab into his back.   
  
It felt kind of funny, his death near. Where others would see their life pass before their eyes, all he could see or think was Melphina. The entire second before a gun shot, devoted to Melphina. Even stranger was this moment's appearance at all. Jean had been closer to death in the past and felt nothing at all. Now it was uncontrollable. He felt both proud and sad that he had something to care about before he died.  
  
"You're gettin' slow, Starwind…" the gunman jeered.  
  
The gunman at the same time removed the gun from his back and clicked it off.  
  
Jean's mind wiped clean, Melphina was forgotten. It was all focused on that voice, a voice Jean knew he'd heard before. 21 years of voices flooded his mind. Cataloged and collated and finally remembered, but the voice couldn't be it.  
  
Jean wrenched around in his seat to see his familiar assailant, then rose at the sight of him.  
  
A young outlaw was standing before him, around the same age as Jean by first glance. He was slightly shorter the Jean, of a similar, lean, muscled build, with several scars along his arms like Jean as well. He had a baggy pair of black pants made from Complex Plastic, commonly called Plextic, a durable, lightweight material that was used for everything now a days, and a sleeveless dark gray, insolated shirt, like Jean's, designed to absorb sweat, keep heat in the cold, and coolness in the summer, it had a white lining on the arms, the neck, and was sloppily untucked, with white fingerless gloves with a light shield on the left hand. His most distinguishing feature, his long, bright blue hair, parted in the center, hanging down to his neck. With cunning brown eyes and a sly smile, he returned the blaster he had to his belt.  
  
Jean gasped, "Angelo… Angelo Western?"  
  
The blue haired man put his hands on his hips, "All right, you remembered me."  
  
A giddy smile spread across, and Angelo copied it , "How could I forget!"  
  
The slammed into each other in a hug that mimicked the meeting of two brothers. They were laughing hysterically that fate had brought them back together, spewing gibberish questions at each other. The commotion they created, drew the attentions of the other bar patrons and a few passerby's, but the two seemingly brothers couldn't be bothered by them. Finally, Jean sat down, and Angelo took a seat across from him.  
  
"I'm serious though, Jean. I thought you were fast." Angelo said jokingly.  
  
"I though you were dead, well anyway, I haven't had my morning eye opener, yet." Jean said laying back in his chair.  
  
"Then drink up." Angelo said opening the bottle of brandy and pouring some of it's contents into the two glasses.  
  
Jean took a sip of his glass, then gave a resounding "Ahhh... tangy. Man, what are the odds, meeting you after five years running into each other like this.  
  
"Well, actually, the odds aren't that bad." Angelo said smiling.  
  
Jean looked up from his drink, "Oh yeah?"  
  
"You've been making quite a name for yourself, Jean Starwind."  
  
Jean shrugged, "I guess."  
  
"They call you the prodigy."  
  
"Oh yeah, why is that."  
  
Angelo took a big swig of his glass, "Well, they say you come out of no where, this young outlaw, and excels at everything he starts, helped in no small part by his incredible star ship and his crew."  
  
"That sure does sound like me, heh, heh…" Jean said chuckling.  
  
Angelo smiled, "The Outlaw Star, which placed fourth at the Heyfong Space Races, and first in the privateer division. Captained by Jean Starwind, and crewed by, no less, then a boy genius, am elite assassin, a Katarl Katarl, and… a high-tech bio-synthoid, I think.  
  
"Yeah…" Jean said calmly, sipping his drink.  
  
"There are a lot of rumors as well. They say he had a long standing feud with both the McDougal Brothers and the Kae Pirates, and then killed both of the McDougals, the Hanten Seven, and the most evil man in the universe, Hazonko! That he escaped from the inescapable Gravity Prison! And, that he found the Galactic Leyline and then gave it up for love, or something."  
  
"I thought we didn't believe random rumors, Angelo." Jean said taking about her swig.  
  
"I don't know Jean, more often then not, rumors about you are true."  
  
Jean shrugged, "So, you followed these rumors, to find me, but were you looking for the man or the myth."  
  
"Please…" Angelo said belligerently, "I know you're the same Jean, and that's the reason why you accomplished all those big things."  
  
Jean smiled boastfully, taking in Angelo's complements, "Yes, I am big…"  
  
"And as modest as ever." Angelo jeered.  
  
"Damn straight."  
  
"So how about one more big thing?" Angelo looked at him with a glint in his eye.  
  
Jean popped up from his relaxed position, "Oh ho ho… so there IS an angle!"  
  
Angelo leaped up as well, "Angle?! That's such a dirty word to me! You know me better then that…"  
"Do I?"  
  
"You do. Don't call it an angle, call it a big deal that a guy wants to share with his best bud."  
  
Jean sat back down, poured a little more of the brownish blue liquid into his glass, "So spill it angler."  
  
Angelo sat back down as well, and gave a little sigh, " Answered me this, though. Did you kill Hazonko and the Hanten Seven?"  
  
Jean didn't hold back, "Hell yeah! Those bastards are either buried, blown up, or whatever the hell a number 4 caster shell does to a person. The galaxy can rest a little easier thanks… to… me!" Jean over accentuated the last few words.  
  
Angelo chuckled a little, "Still using that archaic pop gun?"  
  
"My caster could destroy Blue Heaven, given the chance. Now get to your point, the alcohol is starting to get to me…"  
  
Angelo's chuckle faded, "There is a power vacuum within the Kae Pirates."  
  
"Oh?"  
  
Angelo nodded, "The Kae Pirates were barely held together Hazonko, it's member Pirate Guild Houses were always bickering. Now, do you know what man could take Hazonko's seat?"  
  
"Umm, I dunno, who?"  
  
"NO ONE! NO ONE CAN REPLACE THE FATHER OF ALL EVIL, THE MOST SADISTIC PERSON IN THIS HELL-ASS UNIVERSE! NO ONE!" Angelo screamed.  
  
"SHUT UP! I GET IT!" Jean screamed back.  
  
"Hey… I'm tryin' ta sh-leep!" one of the drunks yelled.  
  
Angelo recomposed himself, "Anyway, the Houses are in full out civil war. They're just loping each other's heads off left and right. All secret bases are deserted, everyone's either leaving, killing and regrouping, or already dead."  
  
"Hooray for them. What's that got to do with us?" Jean mused, gulping his brandy.  
  
"Think about it, Jean. All those bases deserted, think of what's still there. All the pirated shit they've collected is just sitting in their vaults."  
  
"I doubt it. Deserters usually fill their pockets before they leave, and I doubt any House leaders would leave their junk for people to find."  
  
"I know." Angelo interjected. "But there is one prize no one is willing to give up, the Iron Cathedral."  
  
Jean frowned, "The high fortress of the Kae Pirates and Hazonko's seat of power?"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"The place with the fabled untold riches guarded by demons and witches?"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"Tch! That's just a myth…"  
  
"No, it isn't Jean…"  
  
"Alright, supposing the Cathedral is real, no one knows where it is or what's it like, or what hazards are around it."  
  
"HA!" Angelo yelled as he pulled out of his belt pack a standard data chip manufactured by Microsoft, "In here is the location of the Iron Cathedral, and a schematic for the station itself."  
  
Jean just stared at him disappointedly.  
  
Angelo continued, "I got it off Kae pirate defector, who was happy to give it too me, when he was to liquored up to care."  
  
Jean just looked on, "Angelo…"  
  
Angelo looked angrily at Jean, "What?!"  
  
Jean gulped his entire drink, then calmly poured another one. Jean took a quiet sip, placed the glass back on the table, then burst out of his seat.  
  
"Angelo! Has your brain melted or something?! You've been drinking WAY too much, bro! You can't put so much hope on merchandise from a pirate! That's the first rule of smuggling! Have you forgotten all that Virgil taught us?!"  
  
Angelo burst up out of his seat as well, "Have you forgotten who I am?! Of course I know not to trust smuggler's merchandise! You know me better then that! I checked it out?"  
  
"Checked it out?" Jean said confusedly.  
  
Angel sat back in his seat, "The data chip read, that the Iron Cathedral was located in a binary star system, where the two stars rotate each other, creating a very dense ether field. That's where the Cathedral is, and that's why no one has ever found it. If they scan the area, all they get is a big ether blot. It just sits there, held in place by the opposing gravitational pulls, feeding off the radiation of those two stars, the perfect secret base."  
  
Jean took a quick sip, "So?"  
  
"So, I had to check it, right. I went a museum of all things, and I checked stacks of star maps and found that the system was on the map, called Theta Scorpius Binaria in the Scorpio constellation. Then I check out a whole bunch of science articles on Theta Scorpius Binaria, they all said that the system couldn't be scanned because of high ether concentrations."  
  
"So, it's a real place, doesn't mean the Iron Cathedral is there."  
  
"Lemme finish. Then I went to the Archives Bureau, and did a computer check of all the known Kae Pirate attacks in chronological order. They started in the Scorpio constellation and branched out. That proves it, right?"  
  
Jean quietly drank his brandy, "Well… it sure does sound right. All right, let's say you've convinced me that the Iron Cathedral is in Theta Scorbius Bulimia or whatever, what's that got to do with me."  
  
Angelo took a quick sip of his brandy "Well, as I was saying before. None of the House lords wanna share or give up the Iron Cathedral, so, it's become a totally war zone. Every few days or so a House lord's fleets will jump in, through some sensor beacons in the ether field or something, the other House lords will learn of it. One or a few will jump in, there will be big bloody battle around and inside the Cathedral, then both sides will retreat. And so, the Cathedral is basically deserted, and all the riches, all the stuff, is just sitting there, letting no one touch it. And what is actually there, billions and billions of compounded Wong, Dragonite, weapons, jewels, art, etc. That's my proposition."  
  
Jean stopped mid sip, "That's your proposition? I must have missed something."  
  
"Yeah, you tend to do that." Angelo jeered.  
  
Jean ignored him, "Wait, if your thinking of taking a ship to the Iron Cathedral, you're crazy! What's to stop those Pirates from blasting us when we enter the system?!"  
  
Angelo waved Jean into close conference, "I'm not the only one who knows about this, Jean. Countless outlaws are trying their luck, but more importantly… Do you know a man named Rikkas Argon?"  
  
"Yeah, he's a Silgrian outlaw, a rich one too. Made it big off that Garganta Ghost Planet treasure run."  
  
"Right, he's amassing a fleet. He's enlisting outlaws with ships to help him make a run on the Cathedral. He's got 50 or 60 so far. He's keeping the location to himself but he's said he'll reveal it in a month, then he and all his lackeys are gonna jump into Theta to totally dismantle the place."  
  
"So, why aren't you with him?"  
  
"Because he's going to fail. He's under estimating what the pirates will to keep the Iron Cathedral in pirate hands. Plus, he's not gonna be able to keep control of a fleet of outlaws in a dogfight. They're all gonna do their own damn thing. So, I'm not gonna go with him, I'll let him and his ships clash with the pirates for a while, then we'll come in and if we can get through the fighting…"  
  
"Whoa, whoa, 'if.' I don't like the word 'if,' Angelo. It's a very dangerous word?"  
  
Angelo looked very confused, "Since when has 'danger' been an issue?"  
  
"Well, you're asking me to risk my life and the lives of my crew, danger is now an issue! Let's see, you wanna fly blind into a giant dogfight in a place that may not even exist, where we will dodge Pirates, Outlaws, Privateers, and who knows who else, so we can enter an inherently evil place where we have no idea what's aboard and walk around it for days looking for we don't know. Oh yeah, and you forgot to mention, if it's a high ether field it's also an ether drive dampening field, meaning, we couldn't get out until we cleared it. Hmm, seems a tad risky, doesn't it?!" Jean said sarcastically.  
  
Angelo frowned, "So what? When has risking our necks every bothered us? We've gone into far more risky situations, and came out on top."  
  
"Yeah, but it's not just our necks, Angelo. It's my crew's necks too, and as a captain, I can't just throw them into the frying pan like that."  
  
"So, what are you saying?"  
  
Jean gave an exasperated sigh, "I'm saying… I can't support your plan. It would put my people in too much unnecessary danger. They're not just my crew but my friends, and one is the women I love, I can't throw them into this."  
  
Angelo got an almost heartbroken look on his face, he laid back in his chair, slouching and head bowed, his blue hair down over his face hiding all but his frowning mouth.  
  
Jean fingered the rim of his glass, a nervous habit of his, "I'm sorry Angelo."  
  
Jean was genuinely sorry that his reunion with his old friend had to take such a dreary turn, but Jean was not prepared to risk lives to have fun again with his friend. It was indeed a major change for Jean, in the past he would search out these situations with high death rates for the pure thrill he it gave him. Now, he cared more for what would happen to those around him if he were to get in such a situation.  
  
From under his hair, Angelo could be heard giving a low chuckle. He sat up and flicked his hair back. He was now smiling brightly.  
  
"Never did I think I would see the day when Jean Starwind would think with his brain instead of his balls."  
  
Jean laughed at that remark, "Well, I've been hit in it so many times, I guess it stared to work again.  
  
"Your head or your balls?"  
  
They two old friends laughed again. Laughed like there was never any sad moment to begin with. Laughed like the four years since their way too abrupt separation was only a few minutes long.  
  
"Well." Angelo started swigging down the last of his glass of brandy, "If these friends of yours mean so much to you, I'm gonna have to meet them.  
  
"Yeah, I'd like that."  
  
"And this girl you love so much too."  
  
"I can arrange that."  
  
"Great, I'll take you all out to dinner. Tonight, around seven, meet me at a restaurant on the Upper Starside, called Silver Fox."  
  
"Whoa, Upper Starside that's the ritzy section of Blue Heaven, can you afford that?"  
  
"Sure for my wittle Janine I can shell out the cash. They've got a strict dress code, so dress nice." Angelo said as he got up to leave.  
  
"Wow, Angela, you're so giving today."  
  
Walking toward the open doorway, Angelo gave him the wink and the gun finger, "See ya later, Jean Starwind."  
  
Jean smiled as he walked off into the distance, "Bye bye, Angelo Western."  
  
Jean was feeling sufficiently happy at this moment. He would have to hurry back to tell his friends that he had found his best friend Angelo.  
  
Jean drained his glass into his guzzle, then seeing the bottle nearly empty, motioned toward the bartender, "Yo, bartender! Gimme another bottle of this stuff."  
  
The bartender with a long scare along his chin frowned, "Yeah, I'll give you another bottle, as soon as you pay for the first one!"  
  
Jean got a confused look, "But didn't he pay…"  
  
The bartender shock his head grimly  
  
Jean jumped to his feet and turned toward the door, but the blue haired outlaw was long gone, "ANGELO! CURSE YOU!"  
  
  
  
(hahahahaha, me lika the suspense, tell me though, did you like it? Then you gotta tell me, you didn't like it, tell me anyway! R&R) 


	2. That's Why I'm So Screwed Up

Fumo presents…  
Something he doesn't own and makes no claim to… Outlaw Star, but all characters not of the series are his and if you even try to copy them you'll just wined up looking stupid so ;P  
  
This is Outlaw Galaxy: Old Habits Die Hard  
  
  
After playing that unfortunate bill, Jean didn't stick around. He was too excited about that evening and wanted to tell the crew as soon as possible. The possibilities of what could happen as a result of that dinner, his old friend Angelo may decide to join up with Starwind & Hawking Enterprises, and pursue less suicidal endeavourers within in his company.  
  
Jean made his way quickly across the streets, down the lift and to the ship to tell the crew the good news. As he entered the docking bay he noticed none of crew was doing anything Jean had asked them to. Jean figured as much, but he still like to order people around to keep at lease an air of seniority.  
  
Entering the ship, Jean followed the sound of conversation to the galley. Entering that room, he spied everyone enjoying a nice breakfast. Melphina had cooked the last of the bacon and eggs and found some tea biscuits and coffee to serve the rest.  
  
The crew turned to him as he entered and managed a few hellos to him.  
  
Jean frowned, "I thought I told you to get to work."  
  
Jim frowned back at him, "Yeah right. Like we'd work while you got drunk."  
  
"Yeah, you big dummy!" Aisha yelled at him.  
  
Jean took a seat, "No respect. Nobody listens to what I say, anymore."  
  
Sazuka smiled as she sipped on a hot cup of coffee, "I guess you have a mutiny on your hands, captain."  
  
"Tch, mutiny. In the olden days Captains could hang crewmen from the mizenmast for disobeying him. It's a tradition I'm seriously thinking about bringing back!"  
  
"Oh hush up, Jean." Melphina said as she walked toward him from the cooking equipment, with a plate of eggs and bacon she placed in front of him, "After breakfast, we are all going to go work, that includes you, Jean."  
  
Jean was still amazed at how much more sure of herself Melphina had become in the year or so that he'd known her.  
  
Before she could walk away, Jean held on to her arm and rubbed his head against her arm in a mock little kitty cat way, "Thank you, sweetie…"  
  
Melphina chuckled and patted him on the head and returned to her kitchen,   
Jim looked at Jean funny, "Well, you're in a bright mood for a drunk. Did something good happen to you."  
  
Stuffed some eggs and a piece of bacon into his mouth, "Very good. I ran into my old friend, Angelo Western.  
  
Melphina sat at the table and munch on some scrambled eggs. Sazuka sipped on her coffee as she quietly read her Daily Newscript, a thick sheet of trashable, flexible Plextic that held micro processors that access all that day's news, a nifty innovation out dating newspapers. Aisha slouched back in her chair eating a strip of bacon in the most annoying way, she held it up, one end in her mouth, and chewed it, but more like gnashing it many times with no foreseeable end or swallow on the horizon. None of them taking too much interest in the mention of that name, except for Jim. Jim looked up from a roll he had just buttered with a look of surprise on his face.  
  
"You mean that guy you were always talking about? Your partner before me? I thought you said he was dead?" Jim asked.  
  
That little outburst seceded in grabbing the others' attentions. The three women looked up at Jim with interest. Then to Jean.  
  
Jean smiled, receiving the attention he craved, "Yep, that guy."  
  
"You had a partner before Jim?" Aisha asked quizzically with bacon in her mouth.  
  
"Uhhh, duh!" Jean jeered sarcastically at the young beast girl, "I'm like twice as old as him, I think I've made some other friends before him."  
  
Aisha growled at him, and emphasized it by ripping the bacon in half, "I doubt it…"  
  
Melphina decided to interrupt the building argument, "So, who is this Angelo?"  
  
Jean laid back in his seat, "Angelo was my bud a long time ago. We grew up together, and when I worked as a smuggler for Virgil Loe, that's Fred Loe's dad, he worked with me. Ahh, those were good times…" Jean said nostalgically.  
  
"How come you've never mentioned him before?" Melphina continued.  
  
"Well… the way our friendship ended, it wasn't particularly pleasant. The only ones I've talked to about him and his…," Jean searched for the right word, "…disappearance was those few people I came in contact with after his disappearance and Jim."  
  
Jim mumbled with a mouthful of bread, "Yeah, I feel special…"  
  
"You keep jerking us around here, Starwind! Is he dead or not?" Aisha complained.  
  
"He's not, ok! But, to understand… um, how things are now… I have to tell you the story from the beginning." Jean leaned forward and placed his elbows on the table, "I've told yall how I got on Sentinel, right."  
  
He was answered with nods.  
  
"But, I've never said to much about after that. Ok, after I crashed on Sentinel, I had nothing, what so ever. I had to suffice by leaving off the streets of Metrotown, I was about… ten or eleven, I had to steal and cheat to stay alive, . I wasn't great at it, but I got to the point where I could get away fast enough that a shopkeeper couldn't kick my ass. Now, there are a lot of kids like that in Metrotown, I mean, it's the biggest city on Sentinel, with the highest homeless rate, one of those kids was a boy with blue hair, Angelo Western. Now, I never really knew him, but when I was living there, I'd seen him steal and such, just like me."  
  
"One day, I was not fast enough, and I was gonna get seriously thrashed by this stupid meat vendor, no way out, the police don't help the "street trash" they wanna see less of them, then, out of no where, this blue-haired kid smashes into him and knocks him over. We go to run, but the guy trips Angelo up, and he falls. So I return the favor, and hit that vendor in the back of the head with a… I think it was boot… a steel toed boot I found in the garbage… yeah…"  
  
"Anyway, after that, me and Angelo decided it would be wiser to work together from now on. We were a great team, watching each other's back, helping each other survive. Life in the streets went on, we moved up from simple stealing to…" Jean counted on his fingers, "Pick pocketing, mugging, swindling games like 3 Card Monty and such, bigger gambling events like dog fights, dice games, fight clubs, and rigging gambling events, heh, heh, basic shit that we got pretty good at."  
  
"Then around fifteen, we gained the attention of Virgil Loe, at the time he had built a virtual empire for the sale of guns, bombs, missiles, etc. He made them on urban nightmares like Sentinel and Heyfong and smuggled them to all the corners of the galaxy. Virgil needed some new street guys on Sentinel, young dudes who could protect his industry in the city and help with the secret shipments off planet."  
  
"When he asked us, we were thrilled. We had been looking to expand our enterprises, if you know what I mean." Jean began to speak boastingly, "Sure, we were young, lots of Virgil's older partners resented us, but we had something they couldn't match, our street smarts. I mean, we spent like 5 years fighting and conning and risking our asses to get to a point where the ghetto belonged to us. There was nothing that went down in Metrotown that we didn't know about, we were perfect for the job, and it turned out we WERE perfect at the job."  
  
Jean stopped for a moment to observe his listeners. They all looked at him attentively, even the normally cool Sazuka betrayed a look of eager interest.  
  
"For the next 2 years or so, we were Loe's connection to the street. We took care of every problem he had. An upstart dealer in Metrotown or Virginia, we'd take care of it, he needed a store house out of the way, we took care of it, needed some one to meet a buyer or even deal, he called his "street trash" connections, heh, heh. In turn, we got the rewards and protection he could offer from the police."  
  
Jean sat back and gave a long sigh, as the others waited for him to continue.  
  
Melphina looked at him with impatience, "So what happened…"  
  
Jean held up his empty plate, "Can I have some more?"  
  
"Oh, sure…" she said as she moved for his plate and back to the counter.  
  
Jean continued, "So, then came a hot night in June. Me and Angelo and some other of Loe's men, had to go to a small farm outside of Virginia City to deliver a shipment of rockets or something. The sale was to go down in a long barn, where underneath the shippers hide there spacecraft, and we were to come in with a shipment of weapons hid in a shipment of oats. It was all routine, nothing was supposed to go down, we weren't expected anything out of the ordinary."  
  
Jean stopped to observe his crew again. They all had there eyes plastered on Jean. Aisha looked the most interested, she gave Jean and unyielding stare, a piece of bacon hanging out of the side of her mouth.  
  
Jean looked at Aisha, and held up his empty mug, "Coffee…"  
  
Aisha's stare became very vacant, and the bacon disappeared between her lips, "Whaaa…"  
  
"Gimme some coffee." Jean clarified.  
  
Aisha looked at the coffee mug, then to pot of black coffee on the table in front of her, "Ohhhhh…"  
  
Jim and Sazuka chuckled as Aisha quickly filled up his mug. Melphina returned with a plate of warm scrambled eggs, and pulled her seat close to Jean's.  
  
"Thanks baby. So! We got there, we show the merchandise, they show their cash, and right when we shake hands, the Sentinel Bureau of Investigations busts in. Turns out it was a sting to catch both us dealers and the shippers, a weasely little guy I knew that worked for Loe got caught buying "Astral Meth" and made a deal with the SBI to finger Loe for his own protection. There was a big gun battle, but the SBI agents were better armored and better equipped. There was a plan among the smugglers to jump in the ship under that barn and blast off the planet. Last time I saw Angelo… he jumped into the hatch…"  
  
Jean's smile faded and he crossed his arms, he looked down as if he was remembering something difficult. Melphina put her hand on his shoulder and rubbed him compassionately.  
  
Jean continued, "He yelled for me to hurry up… I ran for the hatch, but… but my fear of space froze me, I mean I wanted to go, but I just could walk to the hatch… seconds later the ship blasted off. I never saw him again, I had no idea what happened to him, Loe's other men, or the smugglers. I'd always assumed the ship was destroyed and he was dead, or it was capture and he was in prison…"  
  
Jean gave a long sigh, "Well, I hid from the SBI agents by hiding in a grain silo for three whole days before I could come out…"  
  
"Whoa, three days in a grain silo! What did you do to keep yourself busy?" Aisha asked quizzically.  
  
"Masturbation."  
  
"Ewwwwwwwwwwwww!" Aisha screamed as she backed away from Jean.  
  
"You wanted to know so just grow up!"  
  
"Isn't that the pot calling the kettle black." Sazuka jeered at Jean, a sly smile on her face.  
  
Jean scoffed then continued, "So, three days later, I returned to Metrotown. I had to lay low for awhile, because with what the SBI collected from the barn, the were able to arrest Virgil Loe and a whole bunch of his organization and send them to prison."  
  
Jean leaned back and took a sip of his coffee, "That's about it. I took the money I'd collected, started Starwind Enterprises, and found a young "street trash" kid who reminded me a lot of myself, the rest is history."  
  
Jean leaned forward again, "And then today, I'm sitting in a random bar, then someone sticks a gun in my back, I'm thinkin' it's Ron McDougal or sumthin. Turns out, it's Angelo! It totally freak me out…" Jean finished by shoving a spoonful of eggs into his big mouth.  
  
"Wow, Jean. What a story." Melphina said leaning away.  
  
"How along ago was it when this Angelo disappeared?" Sazuka asked.  
  
"Um… we were both 17, that's… four years about."  
  
"Wait. So, you just ran into up there?" Jim asked confused.  
  
"Well, yes and no… he had apparently heard about me from where ever he was, and he came looking for me… just running into him was coincidence… I guess."  
  
"This Angelo sounds like a pretty impressive fighter, going throw the same battles as you Jean," Sazuka mused, "and he must be good at finding people if he tracked you to Blue Heaven. Do you think he would join our crew, if you asked him to?"  
  
"I'm hoping for it!"  
  
"So what's Angelo like?" Melphina asked, resting her chin on Jean's shoulder.  
  
"Well, he's got blue hair, um, a medium build, he's a little shorter then me, upstairs and downstairs, if you know what I mean." Jean said as he burst out laughing.  
  
Everyone else just stared at him flatly.  
  
Aisha leaned close to Jim and whispered, "Jimbo, is that a penis joke?"  
  
Jim whispered back, "Yep…"  
  
"How does he know the size of that guy's penis?"  
  
"Jean, there were so many things wrong with that joke, and I meant what's his personality like!" Melphina said in the abrupt tone she had taken in her year with Jean.  
  
"Heh, heh, I'm sorry, I've been sitting on that one for a month, I couldn't resist! Anyway, well… he's cocky, but cunning… he's very outgoing, but knows when to keep quiet… smart, nice guy generally…he's a playa for sure, good with the ladies… hmm, he's just like me actually, he's like another Jean Starwind."  
  
"Oh no, two Jean Starwinds! Say good bye to the universe. That's enough testosterone to drown us all…" Aisha jeered, before a giant scone was shoved into her laughing mouth by an irate Jean.  
  
Aisha gagged on the British tea biscuit, leaned a little tow far back and crashed onto the floor. As usually, the crew chose to ignore Aisha on the floor.  
  
Jean recomposed himself, "Yes well, anyway, he invited us to go to dinner so you can meet him."  
  
"All right, so I finally get to meet the famous Angelo." Jim called, picking up the roll he had stopped eating to listen to Jean's story.  
  
"Oh, that would be nice, Jean." Melphina spoke into his ear.  
  
"Where does he wanna take us?" Jim asked as he finished his roll.  
  
"A place on the Upper Starside called Silver Fox."  
  
"Ohhh, Silver Fox!" Aisha squealed as pulled herself off the floor, large scone in her hand a giant bite missing, and Aisha chewing on something, "That place has such good smelling food. It costs like 100 Wong a plate, but it would be worth it. I tried to go there once, but they said they had a dress code, I told them I was the Ambassador, but they didn't care, and then I got shovey, and so I ended up with my ass in the street, hungry…"  
  
Aisha was interrupted by the scone she was hold being shoved back into her mouth by Jean.  
  
"Don't talk with your mouth full, deary." Jean mused.  
  
"A 100 wong a plate, huh. That sounds like my kinda place." Sazuka said, sipping her coffee she had let get cold while listening to Jean's story, and suppressing a yucky face.  
  
"Yeah, I'll bet. Around 6 we gotta get ready, put on your fanciest duds and your most painful high-heeled shoes, but first, can we please get some work done."  
  
-------  
  
Jean waited impatiently at the door of the Outlaw Star. He was freshly cleaned, and wearing his nicest outfit, a dark gray sports jacket worn open in the front with a large collar, a dark gray pants, a shiny, burgundy red silk shirt, tucked in, and an exceptionally shiny pare of black, 126 wong, Gizur-skin dress shoes that Jean bought because he felt he owed it too himself.  
  
He tapped his foot on the metal corridor, venting his frustration. It was almost seven, and he was the only one ready to go. He was very eager to go, he wanted to hear all about what happened to Angelo after their seperation, and he wanted to tell Angelo everything he did as well. Jean, however, was not sure if he would tell Angelo everything.  
  
When he knew Angelo, there was nothing he kept from him. But in the last 4 years, he had come to depend on a certain set of people for the things he encountered. So the only people who knew about the Leyline debacle were his crew and Fred Loe, no one else. Stories were leaked by pirate defectors and Katarl Katarl soldiers who escaped from the Leyline, but they were just rumors, and Jean would never admit to them. Now he was faced with one person he trusted most before he meet all them, and he could not make a decision.  
  
He came up with a story about their search for the Leyline, about all the amazing stuff leading up to the Leyline, Hilda, the XGP, the Space Race, etc., but not saying or denying they found, making it sound like they gave up or are still looking. He would also leave out important details to the Leyline adventure; like Melphina being the key, he would just call her an advanced bio-android designed to pilot the Outlaw Star; or the location of where the crew killed Hazonko, the Hanten guys, and the McDougal brothers, he would just said they crossed paths. However, if Angelo got wise, which is very well what might happen, Angelo was no fool, and asked him outright wither he had found the Galactic Leyline or not, Jean would have to decide to reveal the truth or outright lie.  
  
It wasn't that Jean only wanted to keep what had happened to his inner circle, it was also to protect Angelo. Their involvement in the Leyline fiasco had brought them more harm then good, rumors about them ran rampant, there were always people asking questions, looking for secrets, testing for weaknesses. He would bring anyone in to that kind situation, especially not his best friend.  
  
Jean's train of thought was interrupted by the sound of foot steps on the rampway to the Outlaw Star. Jean turned to see Swanzo, the resident Corbonite mechanic of Blue Heaven. His large metal sphere of a body barely shook as he walked up on his limber legs.  
  
Jean smiled as Swanzo walked up, "Evenin' Swanzo."  
  
The Corbonite walked up to the taller humanoid, and placed his hands on his "waist/equator" in a very human mimicry, "Ok, Starwind. I got you your stuff, now, it's pay time. Are you going to pay up, or give me another IOU?"  
  
Jean made a false look of hurt, "Swanzo, I'm appalled that you think so low of me. I'll pay what do I owe you?"  
  
"Ok…" Swanzo counted on his fingers, "A paint job and a registration number, 50 wong…"  
  
"Ok."  
  
"50 feet of laser-link wire, 570 wong…"  
  
"Ok."  
  
"2 tones of replacement Titanite plating, 1,500 wong…"  
  
"Ug, ok."  
  
"A quadra-synk power cuplink… a Microsoft System Regulator… three atmosphere-safe energy relays, 6,600 wong…"  
  
"Wow, ok."  
  
"A new Nova Battery for your navigation tank, which I don't know how you ran it out it's guaranteed for a century, that cost a lot, 4,700 wong…"  
  
"Damn, ok."  
  
"An Anarchy-Net systems corrupter the deluxe Cyber-Reimer version…"  
  
"Whoa, whoa, whoa. What is that, who asked for that?"  
  
"Jim did."  
  
"Oh."  
  
"11,000 wong."  
  
"Well, that is a shit-load of money, lemme add that up..."  
  
Jean mumbled softly as he counted on his fingers calculating the total, but it sure didn't look like was trying very hard. Swanzo looked at him with as good an "as if" look he could with only two lights for a face. Jean finished with a nod to himself. Then he reached down to a metal briefcase and handed it to the confused Swanzo.  
  
"Here ya go." Jean smiled.  
  
Swanzo took the case cautiously, "What is this, Starwind?" Swanzo opened the case to find stacks of crisp, clean paper wong amounting at least several thousand, "Oh wow!"  
  
"You can keep the change for all help you've given us along the way."  
  
Swanzo closed the case, and looked up at Jean with suspicion in his eyes/light bulbs, "Where did you get all this cash, Starwind?"  
  
"Well, it's a weird story. I took the liberty of raiding some of those McDougal brothers secret accounts. I mean for all the damage they caused, and Hilda, and they wouldn't need it, seeing as they're dead. But it was also weird, there were a whole lot of accounts in the name of Harry McDougal and Melphina, so we didn't even have to con them. But, boy, that Harry guy was screwed up, must of thought Mel would marry him or something…"  
  
"Ut oh." Swanzo said, seemingly for no reason.  
  
"What?"  
  
Swanzo sighed, "Once again you've done something irrational and not thought out, and you're now busted back down to kid."  
  
"Nuts. What did I do now?"  
  
"Well, kid, the McDougal's may be dead, but they have a lot of friends, a lot of famous, outlaw friends, when they get whiff that you've offed the McDougals then stole from them, they're going to come looking for you."  
  
"Bring it on, I'll vaporize 'em just like I did Ron McDougal."  
  
"Well, hooray for you, but friends aren't the only thing they made. Now recently, so it says on the street, the Space Forces, in an under the table deal, paid them a giant wad of cash to destroy their mistake, the XPG. Now that the rumor that they failed is out, and a young Jean Starwind has both the XPG and their money, they're going to come for both. Commissioner Tony Thorpe of the Spcae Forces doesn't like loose ends."  
  
"So, what are you saying, you don't want the money?"  
  
"No," Swanzo turned to leave, "I just never saw you, good bye kid."  
  
Jean could help but start to laugh, he waved as Swanzo walked down the ramp, "See ya later, Swanzo… or not, I don know… bye!"  
  
Jean chuckled some more, but his attention was drawn away as a door down the corridor opened. Out walked Melphina, and Jean's breath was taken away, she was a stunning vision. She wore a sensuous tank top dress, it was a creamy white color that fit her form all the way down to just above her knees, along side of the dress was a pretty pattern of a pink rose with a long green stem that wrapped around the back. She also had on some nice tall white strapie heels. Her hair and face were perfect, and she had a provocative light red lipstick on her cute lips.  
  
She smiled at him as she walked toward her lover, "Looking good, Jean. How about me?"  
  
As soon as she came close enough he grabbed her in an embrace. He put his hands around her waist and pulled her against his body. He met her on the lips with a passionate kiss. She did not fight it, she put her arms around his neck and pulled him into her. When they parted for air, Jean placed his forehead against her's in a intimate moment.  
  
"I think you look gorgeous." He said intimately.  
  
She smiled, and bit her lower lip as she stared longingly into his eyes, one of the many things about her that turned him on. She used her finger to stroke his ear lobe, another thing she purposely did to turn him on.  
  
"Do you think we have time for a quicky?" he propositioned.  
  
She smiled at him slyly.  
  
"Damn, Jean can't you keep in your pants for at least an hour?" Jim complained as he walked in from down the hall. He was quiet the little gentlemen; in his black coat, his smooth brown colored vest with small gold buttons and a low V-neckline, and over top of a clean white dress-up shirt, as well as a neatly pressed pair of black pants, and some very fine black dress shoes. He wore a nice red, silk tie that trailed off underneath his vest, and in his vest's breast right pocket there came a gold chain that dangled a bit and then hooked into one of the button holes on his vest. Very snazzy, indeed.  
  
Jean smiled, then pounced. He grabbed his big chunk of Jim's cheek and pinch like an over affectionate grandmother might, "Well aren't you just the cutest wittle thing. All dressed up like a big man." he insulted jokingly.  
  
Jim smacked Jean's hand off his face, "Unlike you, who looks like a giant toddler."  
  
Jean poked and prodded Jim, and added a few more "smart" remarks for good measure, while Jim tried to fend him off. Melphina chuckled lightly to herself as she watched the two old partners bicker.  
  
Enter Aisha Clan Clan, which froze most of the people in the room who couldn't help but stop everything they were doing to watch her entrance. Jean was froze mid-poke, and Jim froze in mid-bitch slap.  
  
She was in a very small dress, extending from a few inches above her breasts and a few inches below her crotch. It hugged her body tightly, highlighting the curves of he stomach, hips and butt. It would have been quiet a provocative dress, hadn't she looked so goofy on her, and if it hadn't been Aisha Clan Clan wearing it.  
  
She looked very uncomfortable in that dress, she was constantly pulling at the parts that hugged her body too much, constantly pulling the dress down around her legs and up on her chest. It was as well a bright red color that was hard to look at directly, and along the side was a pattern of a dragon using different pieces of a gold material that made it look rather gaudy.  
  
Jean smiled to himself as he watched her tug at the fabric over her belly, "Getting a little fat there, eh, Aisha?"  
  
Aisha bared her steely fangs, "Shut up! I just saw this dress in a store, and it looked kinda pretty, but it just goes to show that you humans' best designers can't make a dress to suit the superior Katarl Katarl physique."  
  
Jean chuckle to himself, "Whatever…"  
  
Aisha growled at him, but was distracted by the last one they were waiting for entered from a wash room.  
  
All eyes fell to Sazuka and stayed there. She was stunning in an elegant kimono, it was sterling white with green edges, along the green edge at the bottom, a beautiful painted forest of cool green trees, around her waist was a green sash that made a large bow in the back. Her lips were a deep red color, she wore two earrings made of green jewels, and her hair was in the intricate style of the Geisha of ancient Japan, tied with a red silk ribbon.  
  
No one said anything, they were too captivated to speak.  
  
Satisfied with her fellows' reactions, she smiled, "Shall we go?"  
  
  
  
(let's just assum I knows everything, ok, thanks, that's smoker style ok, good fer ya…) 


	3. Regret, Anxiety, and Drunken Catgirls

Fumo presents a Smoker Style Production… and junk…  
You know the drill, stinky  
  
Outlaw Galaxy: Old Habits Die Hard  
  
Chapter 3  
  
A few cab rides later, Jean Starwind and his entourage entered the extreme elegance of Silver Fox's coat room. A place so well furnished that you could enjoy an evening there and forget there was a restaurant in the next room.  
  
Entering the main dining room the were greeted with a similar rush of furnishing excellence, as well as a snooty concierge.  
  
Jean smiled at the man's judgmental gaze upon them, suppressing the urge to punch off his stupid pencil-width mustache for his presumptuousness. The thought left his mind as he sighted the reason for him being there in the first place.  
  
"Hey, you made it." Angelo called as he walked towards them arms wide open. He was wearing a suit very similar to Jean's; the same pants and sports coat with the big collar in charcoal black and a dressy, deep yellow shirt underneath.  
  
"Angelo!" he called as he walked toward his old friend with the pretence of a hug, but then caught him in a headlock, "You're gonna actually pay for this dinner, right."  
  
Angelo chuckled at the earlier incident, "Yeah, I'm paying for real this time." and he was let go, "So, Jean, show me, where's yer peoples?"  
  
Jean lead Angelo to where the others we standing, "Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you… the famous… Angelo…"  
  
Angelo smiled at each of them.  
  
Jean continued with his presentation, tapping Jim on the back of the head, "Angelo this is your replacement, heh, heh, my renowned boy genius, Jim Hawking."  
  
Angelo extended a steady arm, "Hiya Jim, put 'er there."  
  
Jim took his and shock it firmly.  
  
"So, Jim, you are the guy that tries to keep Jean out of trouble now, right?"  
  
Jim smirked, "Tries, is the key word there."  
  
Angelo chuckled heartily, "Oh yeah, I know that."  
  
Jean shook his head in disappointment, at who or what it wasn't entirely certain, "Ugh, moving on… the amazingly good looking bio-synthoid they talk of, Melphina."  
  
Melphina strolled up with a smile and extended her hand to be shook, but instead, Angelo put her hand in his, he bent over and gave it a light kiss. Melphina blushed quickly, and Aisha and Sazuka giggled to each other. Jim smiled to himself, secretly hoping to see Jean go crazy or start a fight or something. Jean just frowned.  
  
Angelo brought himself back up, "Very pleased to meet you, Melphina." he said in a friendly tone.  
  
Melphina smiled back, "Same to you, Angelo."  
  
Jean cleared his throat to bring attention back to him, he motioned towards Sazuka, "Now, my personal assassin…"  
  
"Yes, Twilight Sazuka." Angelo interrupted, his eyes taking a more serious edge as he smiled slyly at Sazuka, "Your reputation precedes you, Miss."  
  
Sazuka smiled at him contently.  
  
"But no where have I heard that you were so beautiful."  
  
Sazuka giggled at the compliment, she extended her arm, her wrist limp, presenting it for him to kiss, as if it were a great honor. In Jean's opinion, that was a pretty arrogant thing to do, but Angelo didn't seem to mind as he laid a light kiss on her hand.  
  
"And last, my big cat faced punching bag…"  
  
"Aisha Clan Clan!" she interrupted as she pushed past and up to Angelo, her hand held out for her to kiss. Angelo smiled at her with those serious eyes, and took her hand in his, but before he could do anything, Jean interrupted.  
  
"She has rabies."  
  
"I do not have rabies!" Aisha yelled at him.  
  
Angelo simply smiled at her, "Well, even if you did, I think it would be well worth it."  
  
Aisha giggled like a school girl and stuck her tongue out at Jean as Angelo kissed her hand.  
  
Jean shrugged, "You never listen to me, Angelo, now you're gonna get sick and die…, but anyway, can we eat all ready, I'm starving"  
  
------  
  
Aisha Clan Clan ate merrily at her food as the others conversed. Stuffing plate after plate of very expensive food into her maw, nosily and messily, no regard for the others at the table. It was always the way she ate, and she wasn't going to stop now. It mattered not that each plate she devoured would cost poor Angelo and arm and a leg to pay for, she ate until she was no longer hungry, that's how it had to be with her.  
  
Another hot plate of Grilled Horatian Cloud Bass was served in front of her, she made a delighted squeal, and dug in.  
  
Across from her, Jean and Angelo were going at it in a lengthy conversation about the past, as happy as two united brothers, as the others ate quietly. Jean and Angelo were jolly as could be, laughing loudly, obviously bothering the other diners in the restaurant. Jim and Melphina ate their meals and listened silently to the conversation, while Sazuka ate, and didn't seem to pay attention at all.  
  
Jean recanted his whole life story to Angelo since the time they were separated, but he was very careful about what he said. He told Angelo about everything but the Leyline, wanting to keep it's existence and disappearance a secret. Why Jean didn't want to share it with his childhood best friend, she was unsure, she guessed Jean didn't want to share it with anyone but his close circle.  
  
It turns out, Angelo, after escaping on the ship, his luck turned bad for him, or worse. The crew of that ship got scared that Space Forces would imprison them, so they destroyed all the merchandise, captured Angelo and the others that worked for Loe, and sold them into slavery on the frontier Human world of Farel. Angelo got sold to an outlaw named "Love Warrior" Zoe Cantolopis, a woman known for her veracious appetite for lust, but not for her looks. Angelo killed her within the first day, and stole her ship, the Dildo Star.   
  
Angelo didn't get very far, he was tracked by friends of Zoe looking to avenge their comrade. Angelo crashed into one of the planetoids of a stellar body known as the Serran Microids, a spatial anomaly of thousands of small planetoids, some the size of a city and others the size of front yards, that are so closely organized, only a matter of a hundred or so kilometers each, that they share the same breathable atmosphere and a cohesive gravity between that makes each world feel like much bigger worlds, you could fly a small plane to the other microids. They were sparsely populated, mainly by farmers, with a few small cities.  
  
Here Zoe's allies lost him for a very long time, thinking they killed him. He got a job shooting Space Mites, a weird creature that lives in space and would enter the Microids to prey on livestock, for farmers on the smaller Microids, private investigating, protection work, and one job where he guided the war happy forces of a Sith Attack Fleet through the Microids, but then betrayed them to the Silgrian Security Fleet. He made a small living but never enough to buy passage on a ether-drive ship off the Microids. He actually got pretty good at it, killing Space Mites anyway.  
  
Eventually, Zoe's friends, specifically an outlaw named "Hyper" Hal, another named Orville "the Incinerator" Spencer, and another named Sara Black, once again tried to kill him, but Angelo had been preparing for them. He knifed Hal in the head quickly, killed Orville in a lengthy gunfight, and rigged Sara Black's ship, the Witch Brand, with explosives and cremated her. After that he stole Orville's ship, the Fire Starter, and flew off. He heard the buzz about the upset Privateer victory of Starwind at the Heyfong races, and set out to find his old friend. As he went, he heard more strange and fantastic stories about him, the McDougal Brothers, and the Kae Pirates, and found Jean by accident this morning.  
  
Aisha continued her eating, she wasn't so interested in his story, but Jean sure was. He listened intently to everything he said, and emphasized his happiness every time he heard Angelo speak of his accomplishments, which is exactly the same thing Angelo did for Jean's story.  
  
They truely seemed happy to be united again, they spoke with no edge that separated persons usually had when coming together.  
  
Aisha still didn't care, filling her seemingly bottomless belly was all that was on her mind. Angelo didn't interest her in the least, except…  
  
She noticed every now and then, when he wasn't engrossed in conversation, Angelo would shift his eye quickly to the side to get an eyeful of Aisha, then he would look away again as if nothing had occurred. Humans staring at her when she was eating was nothing new to her, someone was always gawking at her during dinner, but something was different about his looks. Most times people looked at her with reserved disgust, but he looked at her with interest, like he wanted to say something but hesitated and decided to forget about it.  
  
There, he did it again, right as she took a swig strait from the Champagne bottle, raising the bottle above her head as she drained it's contents.  
  
Could it be a look of attraction?  
  
Aisha almost laughed out loud at that thought. A Katarl Katarl would never consider a Human in that way, humans were different, they recognized Katarl Katarl superiority and so they were tempted, but their efforts were in vain, as self-respecting Katarl Katarl would never lower themselves.  
  
Angelo laughed at some joke Jean told, "Ha, well, enough about me. Tell me about your friends, Jean."  
  
Jean leaned back in his chair, "What's there to tell?"  
  
Angelo smirked, "Well, maybe how you combined boy genius, a one of a kind bio-synthoid navigator, a galaxy renowned assassin," Angelo's gaze shifted to Aisha again, "a Katarl Katarl with a very healthy appetite?" he said more like a question then a statement, "and yourself into one crew?"  
  
"Me and Jean have been together for awhile." Jim piped in from across the table.  
  
"Well, whose the little lady you were talking about, Jean?" Angelo asked.  
  
Jean grabbed Melphina in a near headlock hug, "This is my baby! And I luvs 'er"  
  
Jean gave Melphina a big wet kiss on the cheek, and Melphina blushed. Jim laughed out load, and Angelo smiled, his gaze shifting quickly from the two to Aisha, then back again.  
  
That look served to prove Aisha's "love/lust" theory, Aisha was beginning to wonder about this Angelo Western.  
  
--------  
  
Time went by, and the restaurant closed for the night, but Jean and Angelo were still awake and wanting to talk. Sazuka returned to the ship with a very tired Melphina and Jim, while Jean and Angelo decided to continue their talk at a local bar. Aisha, wanting to wet her whistle a little more, went with them.  
  
There Angelo and Jean talked long into the evening, or morning, where as Aisha became very drunk, and quick. Jean and Angelo soon ran out of old times to remember and stories to relate, the issue of the present was now on their minds.  
  
Jean was enthusiastic about the subject, Angelo showed a few reservations.  
  
The bar they chose was a seedy little dive, far from the upper class areas where Sliver Fox was. Simple stools, a dirty counter, and bad lighting was the setting. The bar patrons were equally drab; outlaws and pirates by the looks of them.  
  
"How about it Angelo?" Jean asked, hand on his glass.  
  
"Meehhh…" Angelo mused, slouched in his chair, tracing his finger along his glass.  
  
"Come on…"  
  
"Meehhh…"  
  
"What, you don't wanna work with me again?"  
  
"Nooo, it's not that." Angelo sat up, "Starwind & Hawking Enterprises seems a little out of my reach."  
  
"What does that mean?!"  
  
"Well, you, Jim, Melphina, Aisha, and Suzuki…  
  
"Sazuka." Jean corrected.  
  
"Whatever, it's just you've all come together over this weird adventure of yours, I wasn't there, so I'd be the odd man out."  
  
"What?! No you wouldn't."  
  
"Well, why don't you think about my proposition again, Jean."  
  
"No way, I've told you…"  
  
"But Jean," Angelo pleaded, leaning forward right into, "Don't you see. It's more then just a crazy venture. It would be like old times, you and me going up against the odds, because as a pair we're unstoppable."  
  
Jean frowned and looked away, Angelo continued with a pleading look upon his face.  
  
"It's been only 4 years, have you forgotten what it felt like. Let's take that supped up ship of yours, we'll bring the crew, we'll blow the Iron Cathedral up and jack 'em for everything they got!"  
  
Jean took a sip of his whisky, and sighed, "Sorry, man. I'm not prepared to risk things anymore, ya know…"  
  
"No, I don't know!" a hint of tension in his voice.  
  
"That's just it, Angelo, you don't know! I have some one I want to see at the end of the day, you don't."  
  
There was a moment of silence as the two stared directly into each other's eyes, unwavering. Angelo broke gaze first, he slouched back into his seat, and took a sip of his drink while staring off.  
  
"That's low, man…" Angelo mumbled.  
  
"I'm sorry, Angelo." Jean spoke up, "but back then, I was such a dare devil because I had nothing to live for, no family, no real girl, you were basically the only friend I had, there was no point to my existence in my mind." Jean slammed his fist on the table for emphasis , "And I know you felt the same way."  
  
"What's your point, Jean?" looking back into Jean's eyes  
  
Jean continued, "But now, I've got I girl I'm really in love with, and it scares me. I mean it's not back then when I'd run with a girl for a while, it's love, terrifying love. Terrifying that I could loss this love if I were away to long! I've changed Angelo, it's not all about me anymore."  
  
Angelo shrugged, "Still searching for a point here."  
  
Sat back in his seat, crossed his arms, and closed his eyes, "The point is… I'm not prepared… to enter a situation where the odds are so far out of my favor that they could measure the distance between them in light years."  
  
"Sheesh…" Angelo trailed off, averting his eyes again.  
  
"I'm not gonna risk losing any off my people, especially Melphina, over this fantasy mission. I'm not gonna die and leave Melphina either."  
  
"And one girl made you change everything that we used to be…"  
  
"Damn straight! And I'm thankful everyday that I'm with her. You just don't understand, you need a girl…"  
  
"Ugh, thank you for that…" Angelo trailed off sarcastically, taking a sip of his glass.  
  
Jean gave Angelo a stiff punch in his right arm with a smile on his face. Angelo gave a little surprised yelp, and Jean laughed.  
  
"Cheer up buddy, you'll find yourself nice girlfriend like me." Jean jeered.  
  
"I'll beee juurr gerrrlfriend…" Aisha said from under the table.  
  
The little Katarl Katarl had gotten very drunk, and chose to sit on the floor, because she had some trouble getting on to a chair. She had been quiet for a while, and Jean and Angelo had just assumed she had fallen asleep or died.  
  
Aisha pulled herself off the floor, with much difficulty, and the help of the table. Angelo had been kind enough to give her his sports jacket so that she could hid her rapidly descending cleavage line. As soon as she was up, she slapped her thin, muscular frame against Angelo, to his and Jean's surprise. She leaned against him, practically seated on his lap. She wrapped her arm around him, her red-eyed face dangerously close to his. Angelo squirmed a bit in her embrace, but kept his cool. Jean stared at her with venom in his eyes, like she was a huge embarrassment he silently wanted to go away or catch on fire.  
  
Aisha cupped his lip with her fingers, "Haayy Gelo, ju er kinda cute, ju know."  
  
Jean glared his teeth, "Aisha what's wrong with you?!"  
  
Aisha growled at him, "Shad up Jean, ju big funny retard."  
  
Angelo just smirked.  
  
Jean leaned forward to yell into her face, "You literally drunk yourself under the table!" he then retreated back, waving a hand in front of his face like he was warding of bad smells, "And you smell like fish, that doesn't even make sence!"  
  
"Ehhhhhhhhhhhhh, shad up… I'm talkin' ta my honey buggy, he so preeetty…" Aisha said while stroking his chin, Angelo smiling like it was an amusing joke. However, Aisha trailed off, and seemed to forget what she was saying. She looked around with those dowdy eyes for something to help her remember. She sited Angelo's drink, "Haaayyy, whacha drinkin."  
  
She reached for it, but Angelo pulled it away quickly, "Hey, I think you've had enough, kitty cat."  
  
Aisha frowned, "Naw uhh…," Aisha finished with a resounding belch.  
  
Angelo recoiled a bit, but laughed just the same, "Oh yeah?"  
  
Jean scoffed, "Now it smells like beans, what is with you Aisha?"  
  
Aisha frowned, "Well, if no one 'ill gif mia drink, I'm gonna go get one mysheelf."  
  
Aisha leaped off of Angelo, a little wobbly, and tottered off towards the bar.  
  
"Ah, come on kitty cat, you're going to get cirrhosis!" Angelo pleaded.  
  
Aisha turned around and stuck her tongue out, "A Katarl Katarl won't get cirrhosis from you're pathetic human alcohol, and they won't get drunk either (burp)!"  
  
Angelo laughed, Jean just shook his head in shame.  
  
"I'm really sorry about her, she's so pathetic." Jean said draining his glass.  
  
Angelo's view returned to Jean, with a smile, "Ahhh, don't be so hard on her, I think she's cute."  
  
Jean lowered his glass and looked at him flatly. Angelo mimicked his flat look.  
  
"Cute? More like childish."  
  
"She's childish when she's drunk?" Angelo said sarcastically.  
  
"Well, she's a hell of lot more annoying when she's sober." Jean said as he finished his drink.  
  
Angelo looked down at his whisky, "Hmm… so… what's her story?"  
  
Jean put his empty glass on the table, "Well, she was a… a Katarl Katarl officer in the navy. We, sorta, bumped into each other as we were leaving Blue Heaven some time ago. We embarrassed her before her commanders, and they left her on Blue Heaven…"  
  
"Left her?"  
  
"Pretty much, bro. They gave her some bogus title, like ambassador. Well, we met up again, she bitched about it, we scuffled, she tried to kill me, followed us around for awhile and, during the Heyfong Space Race, she attempted to ambush us, then… I think she has a short attention span or sumthin', because she just seemed to forget her grudge, and, well, she's been with us every since."  
  
"Cool…"  
  
Their conversation was interrupted by the sound of something heavy crashing through a table, spilling and breaking glasses, and Aisha's insane laughter proceeding it. Angelo and Jean turned to see, Aisha, as giddy as a school girl, laughing at a vicious-looking guy with several long scars on his face, who had fallen or was pushed back through a table and crashed and hit the floor hard, a very evil, angry look on his face.  
  
"Ha ha ha, jur no match fera' true Katarl Katarl warrior!"  
  
Aisha's laughter was cut short as another vicious looking guy slammed a bar stool into her head. Aisha made a goofy face, and fall over.  
  
Angelo leaped out of his seat, but Jean put up his hand to stop him.  
  
"No, Angelo, don't worry about it. She can take care of them no problem."  
  
Angelo scoffed, "Jean, that's not cool…"  
  
With that Angelo ran toward the fight, where the second vicious guy was about to use a piece of the broken stool to bludgeon the woozy Aisha. Angelo reached up and placed a hand on the man's fist, preventing him from striking, with surprising strength despite his smaller stature.  
  
Angelo smiled slyly at the outraged guy, "Hey man, that's no way to hurt a Katarl Katarl."  
  
"NO, THIS IS!!" Aisha roared as she burst up off the ground. She slammed into her assailant's midsection with such force, that he and her flew several feet back and collided with the wall.  
  
That first bar patron, that Aisha had pushed over, had gotten off the ground and ran to help his friend. Angelo slammed his arm into his chest and neck as he ran by and clotheslined him. The momentum from his lower body continued, while the upper's abruptly stopped. The man slipped and crashed flat on his back.  
  
A third angry man, a rotund dude with a mohawk, who had preoccupied himself with the jukebox in the corner, ran to strike Angelo with his fist. The punch was so long armed and momentous that, Angelo merely shifted his head to the side, and the man sailed past him. Angelo grabbed between the elbow and shoulder as he got close enough, and thrusted his knee into the man's groin.  
  
Jean watched it all with a mix of amusement, disgust, and disinterest. He knew Aisha could beat the brains out of every guy in this bar, even when she's drunk, and with Angelo in the equation, provided his fighting ability hadn't diminished, which Jean was pretty sure hadn't happened, this fight didn't need to concern him.  
  
Jean took a sip of his glass, then finding it empty, slammed it on the table. He stood up slowly, dodging a thrown bottle of whisky. He pulled off his fancy jacket, laid it neatly on his seat, and undid his collar.  
  
"Oh well, got nothing better to do…" he said as he stalked towards the melee.  
  
----------  
  
Jean admired his ship as he walked closer to it. It rested peaceful in one of Blue Heaven's tight dry docks, the magnetic field protecting the vacuum of the enormous port exit behind it. The blanket of stars, asteroids, and blackness beyond offset the ships vibrant red coloring. Two huge docking clamps clipped into the Outlaw Star's side, holding it steady. It was his home and his livelihood.  
  
He walked up to it's side and stroked an ominous gun barrel. He just liked to admire his ship from time to time, remember the good times that had blossomed from the day he first obtained the vessel, actually it was after the first day that the good times came, but you know.  
  
Jean gave a quick sigh, and patted his ship, before moving away towards the entrance. Jean looked back and frowned at his comrade's slowness.  
  
Angelo was several feet behind, dragging along and laboring under the weight of the unconscious Aisha Clan Clan, who he was carrying piggy-backed toward the ship. He was straggling far behind Jean, and had a strained look on his face.  
  
Jean put his hands on his hips and smirked at the spectacle, "She would have found her way back in the morning, ya know. You didn't have to carry her here."  
  
Angelo caught up to Jean, and smirked back, "What are you talking about, Jean. Since when do you act so mean to pretty young ladies?"  
  
Jean looked at him like he said the most incorrect thing in the world, "First off! She ain't a lady, she's a little girl, with the common sense of a roll of toilet paper…"  
  
"Nice…" Angelo mumbled sarcastically.  
  
"Second, she's not pretty, and she's an alien, don't date outside the species, brother. Third, why do you think she's pretty?!"  
  
Angelo frowned, "Hey this ain't no…" Angelo took Aisha off his back and placed her on the ground, where she sprawled out across the metal dock, "This ain't no inquisition. I'm just a nice guy helping out a new friend."  
  
"Oh, she's a new friend, not a friend of a friend."  
  
"A friend of a friend is my friend too."  
  
"Hmm, well… is she hurt?"  
  
Angelo looked down at Aisha, who looked peaceful and contented on the floor, "No… I think she's just… sleeping…"  
  
Jean got indignant, "Heh, sleeping… oh well, I can bother you tomorrow." Jean yawned, "Speaking of sleeping, where are you sleeping, Angelo?"  
  
Angelo thrusted a thumb back toward the lift to the city of Blue Heaven, "I've got a little room on the lower east side.  
  
"Are you kidding, that's like 5 miles away. You're gonna stay in my house tonight." Jean said demandingly with a smile on his face.  
  
"Meeeeehhhh…" Angelo said again.  
  
"Oh, not again. Look, you'll stay in one of the spare rooms, maybe see how you like it. We'll sleep in till one in the afternoon and then we'll, I don't know, we'll go to basket ball courts and hustle kids at three card monty like old times."  
  
Angelo smiled brightly, "That last one sounds like fun…"  
  
"Well come on then, bring the stray cat with you."  
  
Picking Aisha up by the legs and carrying her in up side down, "It's a date. Oh, and speaking of same sex dating, is Fred Loe still…"  
  
"Gay as a rainbow."  
  
"Still denying it?"  
  
"You know it."  
  
-------  
  
Melphina was woken up by someone flopping down on the other side of the bed. She slowly opened her eyes, batting away the "sleep" that had formed. She took a deep, sighing breath. She turned over tiredly to see who it was, but she had an idea even in her drowsy state.  
  
She turned to see Jean stripped down to his white under shirt and pants. He was seated on the opposite side of the bed, back to her, pulling off his shoes and socks. The faint smell of cheap liquor about him, he must have used mouth wash, or else it would have been much worse. That was considerate of him to clean himself a bit before coming to bed, too bad it was a habit he learned late in their relationship.  
  
She turned over completely and lifted her upper body off the bed onto her hands. Jean noticed the rustling, and turned to look at Melphina briefly, then went back to what he was doing.  
  
"Sorry, Mel" he said.  
  
"It's all right." she said, laying back on the pillow, her arms behind her head in a relaxed position.  
  
Jean continued undoing his tricky shoes.  
  
"Where's Angelo?" she asked.  
  
"I set him up in one of the spare rooms so he would have to walk back to his place."  
  
"Oh. So, did you have fun."  
  
"Sure did," Jean raised his head, looking up as if he were thinking a happy though, "We got into a bar fight and everything. It's so great to see him again. He's just like I remembered. Great guy… great friend…"  
  
Melphina smiled at Jean's enthusiasm, "Yeah… You know, I can't stop thinking about the way you too split up, I mean the circumstances. To have a person so important to you in your life one minute, and the next… poof, they're gone, no warning, no explanation, just gone."  
  
She was distracted by a heavy handed shoe hitting the ground. Jean was slumped over where he was sitting.  
  
"That was the second time in my life that's happened…"  
  
At first puzzlement, then the realization hit Melphina, "Oh, your father…"  
  
She pulled herself out of the covers, and crawled on knees to her lover. She pressed close to him, wrapping her arms around him. Jean grabbed a hold of her hands lightly, so that she could not let go of him.  
  
He spoke softly, "When my father died, I was gonna collapse, seriously, but I survived, I went on, made some friends, made some money, I was… healing. And then Angelo died, basically, it was worse, because it was like a compounded tragedy."  
  
"I'm sorry…" Melphina coddled.  
  
"I mean, me and him were so close, ya know. He were both coming from the exact same place. If either one of us needed help, we'd help each other. If either of us had a problem, we'd solve it together. The spoils of what we did was always shared between us first. We were brothers…"  
  
"Hmm…" she hummed into his neck.  
  
"But I'm serious about us coming from the same place. You see, when he was 10 or 11, his father had some gambling problems. He made a deal with a bookie and owed them a big sum of wong. When he couldn't pay, they came to collect it from his ass. They killed Angelo's dad and his mom right in front of him,"  
  
"Awful…"  
  
"Yeah, but before that his dad made a little distraction so that Angelo and his mom could get away, like I said his mom didn't. Angelo hid in the streets after that, trying to etch out a life, just like me. So, we hit it off. Oh, and just FYI, a few years later we went back to that wannabe gangster, he doesn't take bets anymore if you know what I mean… It makes me think, a lot…"  
  
"That's a first." Melphina teased.  
  
"Yeah, exactly," Jean chuckled, "But, seriously, I'm always thinking, what if, what if I stayed with my father on the ship, what if I had chosen to put my fears behind me and jump on to that ship with Angelo? Would I have been better of to do those things?"  
  
"You should never wish to change something in the past," Melphina lectured, "Everything that has happened has happened for a reason, and no matter what decisions you make you must face toward the future, not the past. Besides, if anything was different, we'd never meet."  
  
Jean smiled to himself, and pulled off his socks, "When did you get so smart?" he teased.  
  
"I guess it's the company I keep." She said hugging extra tight.  
  
"Oh yeah…?" he said pulling his dress up pants off and tossing them to the floor.  
  
"Yeah, that Jim is so smart…" she joked.  
  
Jean turned around, "I'll so you smarts!"  
  
He came at her with fingers flared, grabbing and tickling mercilessly all her tickly parts. She squealed and giggled as she tried to run away, but Jean grabbed her a pulled her down to the bed, pinning her. He finished with a sweet, long kiss, as she gradually wrapped her arms around him.  
  
When he came up for air, "I really love you, you know."  
  
She smiled up at him, "I know, and the feeling is more then mutual."  
  
  
  
(ok something has to be said, although it's listed as romance there really isn't to much now, but there will be, also, this story is primarily angsty, the characters will discover themselves, right or wrong, though action and suspense, it will make sense later, It's really slow in the beginning, but it will pick up.) 


	4. Misery Loves Coffee

You know the drill… Outlaw Galaxy: Old Habits Die Hard  
  
Chapter 4  
  
This is it, this is where the action starts, this chapter is my clincher, read it well. It gets sappy sometimes and I did my best to de-sappify it, but you know. Enjoy, Paz, and notice my use of certain fluids!  
  
Also, I'm going to upload a fanfic I once wrote for Digimon, you should check it out, it's called Digimon: New Heroes, shibby…  
  
------  
  
Jean fumbled through the hallway, his head throbbing from a heavy hang over. He rubbed the back of his cranium, as he made his way to the kitchen. It was one of his all too common hang over head aches, that needed to be soothed by a bitter morning drink with caffeine and a whole bunch of pain killers. Jean winced at the pain and made a silent vow to never drink again like he did every morning. If past resolutions were any indication of how this vow would play out, he'd probably forget it in 20 minutes.  
  
Jean stumbled forward and used the frame of the door to support himself. Hanging his head in the kitchen he was assailed by it's bright lights that hurt his sensitive eyes.  
  
"Too bright…" he mumbled to no one in particular.  
  
As his eyes adjusted, he sighted Sazuka sitting at the table. She was quietly taking spoonfuls of sugar and pouring them into her mug of black coffee. When she noticed him, she turned and smiled at him.  
  
"Another late night, Jean?" she cooed.  
  
Jean mumbled some inaudible stuff, and stalked toward the kitchen counter. He searched one of the drawers intensely.  
  
"Did you see Angelo, this morning?" he called back at Sazuka in a groggy tone.  
  
Sazuka threw in a few more spoonfuls of sugar in her obviously bland coffee, then used her spoon to stir it up, "Yes, I did."  
  
Jean smacked some small vials in the drawers around, searching for a particular one, "So where is he?"  
  
Sazuka took a sip, and satisfied with the taste closed the lid on the sugar jar and pushed it away, "He left some time ago… with Aisha." she lingered on the last word.  
  
Jean didn't seem to pay attention as he finally found the vial he was looking for, "With who…" he said popping the cap open.  
  
"With Aisha." she lingered again.  
  
Jean finally registered what she had said, right as he was about to pour the pills of the vial into his mouth, "What?! What are you talking about?"  
  
Sazuka smiled at him, "It's exactly as I said, some time ago, Angelo left and he took Aisha with him."  
  
Jean sighed, aggravated, "Wait, start from the beginning. Why did Angelo go with Aisha and where did they go, which ever comes first."  
  
"I'm not totally sure, but I think he took her out for coffee, which I can perfectly understand considering how poor this coffee is, we should really stop buying this brand."  
  
"Lord…" Jean said downing several of the pills from the vial into his throat and swallowed, "That guy is too nice to people…"  
  
"Nice? How so?" she asked confused.  
  
Jean walked to the table, pulled out a chair, and flopped into it, "He took her for coffee because she probably had a monster hang over. That stupid girl can't even hold a tune, much less her liquor."  
  
"Well if that's what you got out of my explanation, I must not have explained it right."  
  
Jean place one hand on the table and his other elbow on the back of his chair, "What do you mean?"  
  
Sazuka smiled to herself, "Poor clueless Jean… I think Angelo has a crush."  
  
Jean gasped, "WHAT?! What the hell are you talking about?!"  
  
"All the signs are there…"  
  
"NO THEY AREN'T! I mean, there are none! I mean, what signs?!"  
  
"Well, maybe it's just my assassin's perception, but for one, that dinner last night, he was constantly looking at Aisha."  
  
"Looking? What…?"  
  
"Every now and then he would shift his eyes toward her, you didn't notice that?"  
  
"No… ahh, he was probably just grossed out by her table manners."  
  
"Maybe so, but they weren't disgusted looks like you give her, but anyway, they were the same eyes as when he kissed her hand."  
  
"Ug, don't remind me…"  
  
"Second thing I noticed, was when you two went to that bar last night, and Aisha invited herself, he didn't seem too discourage her like you did."  
  
"Ahh, he's just polite. His mama taught him that…"  
  
"Third thing, this morning, it was so cute, he was worried about her, asked how she was feeling, caring for her. And that sweet little nickname he has for her, kitty cat." Sazuka chuckled a bit.  
  
Jean stared straight at her for a moment, then muttered without moving anything but his lips, "Come to think of it… he did call her kitty cat last night, and he stuck up for her in that bar fight… and he carried her home…"  
  
Sazuka made an "I told you so" nod, and sipped her coffee.  
  
Jean just stared straight for another moment, then burst up, grabbing his face with his hands and howling like a baby. Sazuka jumped in surprise.  
  
"NOOOO, we don't get crushes! We're too cool for that!" Jean whined  
  
Sazuka just looked at him confused.  
  
Jean crashed down onto the table, face buried in his arms, "Oh man, you don't get it Sazuka, we were above all that high school crush shit. We weren't looking for relationships, we just wanted the sex."  
  
Sazuka giggled at Jean distress.  
  
Jean sigh and picked his head up, "Aww, how far we've fallen… oh well. What time is it?"  
  
Sazuka looked at the clock on the wall behind Jean, "12 'o clock."  
  
"Sheesh, early…" he mumbled.  
  
Sazuka giggled at him again.  
  
"Where is everyone else?"  
  
"Melphina and Jim went to do some of the shopping and resupplying. So…" Sazuka gave him a sly smile reserved for the specialest of occasions. She slipped one hand from her coffee mug across the table and laid it delicately on Jean's outstretched hand, "… that mean's, we're alone…"  
  
Jean looked down at the hand, her dainty, feminine hand that hid so much strength, cream colored and smooth, laying innocently over his scared hand. His view raised up to her face; silky white complexion; strong features that beguiled her sensitive side; soft, pillowly lips; deep eyes that held virtual galaxies of depth, order and chaos in the same instant.  
  
He frowned at her, he pulled his hand out from under hers and sat back in his chair. He spoke in a low tone, "There you go again, Sazuka. I thought I asked you to stop that."  
  
Sazuka maintained her sly smile that only a trained assassin could muster, pulling back her hand to her coffee mug, "Oh, you are referring to it as reality now, not just an "involuntary discretion" as you so kindly described it before."  
  
"You know I like you Sazuka, I don't wanna have to ruin our friendship or any other friendships by dealing with this problem in the open."  
  
Sazuka's smile widened, "Oh, so it's a "problem" now."  
  
Jean slammed his hands on the table, "Cut it out Sazuka! I'm not playing here! I want you to stop…"  
  
Sazuka leaned in close to Jean, she took a long slender finger and traced it along Jean's jaw line, she mad a cutesy little sad voice, "Owww, where's that old Jean, huh? Where's that cute guy who was so adamant about getting me out of my robe, huh? Where's that sexy red head now, hmm?"  
  
Jean lightly smacked her finger off his face, she responded by taking that finger and sucking on the tip seductively.  
  
Jean scoffed, "Why do you have to do that? We were having a nice conversation and then you come up with this stupid horny shit. Where's that prim and proper Sazuka I once knew"  
  
Sazuka sat back, that smile still on her face, "That girl was only an illusion, I am only who I let myself be… but, all is revealed when you are naked, no veils, no masks, no defense mechanisms. Why don't you come and find out who I really am…"  
  
"Please stop…"  
  
She betrayed her slayer's smile for only a moment, "Oh come now, Jean Starwind. If I had enticed you like this a year ago, you would be pleasing me by now."  
  
"That was a year ago…"  
  
"You said it yourself only a minute ago, you don't get crushes, it's all about the sex. That is all I want as well, I don't need to hang off your arm as a child does, like Melphina, I just need a little… release now and then, and I know you can give it to me right."  
  
Jean poured himself some of the made coffee into an empty mug, "I said… I've changed…"  
  
Sazuka betrayed her smile again for only a nano-second, pulling up from her chair, "People do not change. People either find themselves or bury themselves, and I know you are trying to bury yourself, Jean Starwind. You are the same man who cares only for himself, despite your little daddy-daughter routine with Melphina, I know it's true. You will get tired, and that old Jean will rise from the dead. You are a sexual predator, Jean, and you'll hunt again, it's in your nature, but you know what Jean, I am too, we should hunt together."  
  
She turned and walked slowly to the door, "I'm leaving… I'll be back later." She called to him as she disappeared around the corner, her flowing kimono trailing behind her and her long raven hair gliding on the air as she went.  
  
Jean exhaled, he began breathing hard to match his heart beats. Sazuka was putting tremendous pressure on him. Every since she came to him for these "hunts" as she called them, he had been trying not to give in. He loved Melphina, but he would be lying if he said he wasn't tempted. His greatest fear was that she was right, that he was only an animal looking for his next screw, that he didn't love Melphina enough to stay with only her because he's just that way. That, after one such, extremely, enticing show like this one, he would give in and give her what she wanted, whatever she wanted.  
  
So, he decided he would keep it quiet, not addressing it, not even acknowledging the issue's existence, kept it his and Sazuka's shameful secret. Why he didn't just bring it out in the open, let the chips fall where they may, let the others affect the outcome, and accept what every hand he was dealt, he was unsure.  
  
He had two beliefs in that respect; One, maybe deep inside him he wanted her, to take her and satisfy himself. To make her scream his name, and dominate her. Perhaps he was so tempted now because he knew somewhere, everything she said about him was true, that a part of his mind was screaming to be let out, and only his guilt, or his pride, or his fake love for Melphina, prevented him from doing so.  
  
Or second; he knew deep down that he, in some way, needed her in his life. That, he needed his atypical family to be the same, to not let it be disrupted. Maybe he wished to keep his family just the way he could depend on them, so he would pretend nothing was wrong with it.  
  
Either way, he thought himself completely insane, in what sense or how it related to his problem he didn't know or care to know, he just knew he was in for a giant breakdown if he didn't do something for the situation.  
  
Still, he was going to put it out of his mind until later, take some deep breaths, go work out, or kick the shit out of a punching back, something to help him calm down. Besides, he had more pressing matters at hand, Angelo and Aisha.  
  
Jean sighed and sipped his coffee, then spit it out all over the wall like a spray of machine gun bullets.  
  
"Ewwwww, this is bad coffee!" he yelled, pouring half the jar of sugar into the mug of yucky, black beverage.  
  
------  
  
"Ewwwww!" Aisha whined as she rubbed her temples. Her head was throbbing, she was just waiting for something to help her regain her thought train.  
  
The man across from her chuckled under his breath.  
  
She stared at the blue haired man on the other side of the table. He was smiling at her.  
  
Aisha scoffed, "What's so funny?"  
  
"Nothing. Back to the topic at hand…"  
  
Aisha put up her hand up, signaling for Angelo to stop, "One second… WHERE'S MY DAMN COFFEE!?" she yelled at the waitresses gabbing, slamming her fists on the table for an overkill effect.  
  
One of the startled waitresses, hurried behind the counter of the quaint little café Aisha and Angelo had come to. She searched around and collected the necessary drinks, then hurriedly walked over to the two.  
  
"Ok here, I'm here, no need to yell. Ok, a black coffee with cream on the side…" She said placing the drink in front of Angelo, "and… six Espressos for you, I put it all in a big cup for you… is that ok?" she asked frightened, placing an enormous sport's cooler mug filled with the volatile caffeine drink.  
  
"Yeah, yeah… whatever, go away!" Aisha mumbled as she grabbed the enormous cup and gulped half it's contents, leaving Angelo and the waitresses stunned.  
  
The waitresses sensing she was no longer needed, backed away to safety.  
  
Angelo look at her with a mix of amazement and horror, "That's espresso! That's like caffeinated death!"  
  
Aisha stopped and put her cup on the table, "Ahh, that's better."  
  
Angelo's horror turned to amusement. He laughed a little to himself as he poured some of his cream into his coffee.  
  
Aisha made a mock sad face, "Why do you do that, how come your always laughing at me?"  
  
That prompted Angelo to chuckle one more time, "No, it's not you, don't worry about it. So, how's your lump?"  
  
"Excuse me?!"  
  
"The one on you head, I mean, where that guy hit you with the chair."  
  
"Oh!" Aisha rubbed her hand over her achy spot, "Yeah, it's better."  
  
"Can you even remember what happened last night?"  
  
"Uhh, it's kinda fuzzy. I remember bits. Like, before I got drunk, a chair that wouldn't let me sit on it, I remember fighting some guys, and falling asleep on top of the bar. And I remember you!" she said pointing at Angelo.  
  
"Oh?"  
  
"You came to my rescue when that guy hit me." she said smiling at him "Thank you so much."  
  
Angelo gave a secluded little smile, "No problem, but from looks of the way you were going at them, I don't think you needed my help."  
  
"Probably not," she said boastfully, "But, you helped me and that was… nice."  
  
"Nice? How do you mean."  
  
Aisha sensed that she said something she shouldn't have. She averted her eyes, "Nevermind."  
  
"Wait, wait ,wait. You can't bring it up then drop it. You can tell me?"  
  
"Well…" Aisha didn't want to reveal why she considered it nice, it involved things she couldn't really talk to anyone about for fear that they might think her weak. "Ok, but I'm only telling you because you were nice to me."  
  
Angelo leaned forward over the table, "I'm listening."  
  
Aisha leaned over on the table as well, an unsure look on her face, "Everyone knows I'm strong and I'm tough, and I am, but…"  
  
"Yeah…"  
  
"Well I can handle almost any situation, really, there are few people who can beat me."  
  
"I can believe it."  
  
"I mean I can lifted 10 times the amount of any human, I can withstand bullets, missles, and bombs, I can destroy entire ships with bare hands, I…"  
  
"… can crush the universe in the palm of my hand." Angelo joked.  
  
Aisha sighed, "Yeah well, because I can do all those things by myself, no one even tries to help me…"  
  
"Eh?" Angelo's face mimicked the dull, confused look that Jean got sometimes when he had no idea what was going on.  
  
"You know, It's always; Aisha go destroy that pirate, Aisha go lift a ton of Dragonite; Katarl Katarl girl go into a battle with no back up at all and leave nothing alive. I may be a kick-ass fighter, but I'm still a person, I need help every once in awhile. Maybe not fighting, but…" Aisha trailed off, "… some one could once in a while show they care."  
  
"Would you like some cheese with that whine?" Angelo said leaning back and pouring some more cream in his coffee, a somber smirk on his face.  
  
"Wha? Cheese?"  
  
Angelo used his hand to pull Aisha's head up to look into his eyes "You should buck up, your friends care about you."  
  
"Yeah, well they sure don't show it." Aisha smiled at him, "And so when people like you help me despite me being an amazing Katarl Katarl, it makes me feel better."  
  
"Well, yay for me then." Angelo retracted his hand and sipped his drink.  
  
Aisha chuckled at that, "And you carried me home didn't you, thank you again."  
  
Angelo gave her a mock thumbs up as he was still drinking. He finally finished and asked, "Do you like working with Jean and his crew?"  
  
Aisha was a little surprised by that question, it seemed a very inappropriate and probing question, of course she did. Or did she.  
  
"Uh, yeah, I do…"  
  
"Yeah? Everything…" He said with those eyes again, those warm brown eyes that could stare inside her, like when he kissed her hand.  
  
His questions were very strange. What his intent on knowing how she felt about her friends. It almost seemed like he was trying to gather information. She supposed it wouldn't hurt to tell him the true answer.  
  
Aisha thought about it, only to make it appear that she wasn't thinking about what she was about to say, "Well… sometimes I feel like they don't respect me?"  
  
"Respect?" he inquired as he narrowed his eyes at her.  
  
Aisha lowered her head to her crossed arms, ready to vent, "They think I'm stupid. They think I don't have any ideas, that I'm just the muscle."  
  
"Whoa, that bites"  
  
"Yeah, and they treat me like a child, like I'm too immature to be of use, and they don't even care about me I don't think." she huffed. "And then Jean can never say anything nice about me…"  
  
"Oh, he's not so bad once you get to know him." Angelo said sipping again as he cross one arm over his drinking arm.  
  
"I've known him for a year, and he doesn't quit! He's constantly insulting me, tripping me, he never says thank you or good job, Aisha. I'm just that stupid Katarl Katarl to him. He sure as hell doesn't care about me"  
  
"Hold on there, kitty cat, that's kinda harsh, I know your friends care, and they worry about how you are feeling."  
  
"Oh yeah, then why do they always do stuff with out me, it's like Jean, Jim, and Mel are the inner circle and the rest of use are just hangers on. Why do they only include me when they want me to do something for them.  
  
Angelo put down his cup and hung his arms behind his head, "Well, I dunno… but I can tell you this, Jean isn't, or at least he wasn't, a guy to wear his emotions outside. It's a product of the streets, a defense mechanism of sorts, he doesn't let on how he really feels usually."  
  
"You called me kitty cat again." Aisha interrupted.  
  
"Yep."  
  
"Why do you keep calling me that?"  
  
"Well, it's just a nickname, ya know, just for fun."  
  
"Hmm…" Aisha looked down at her black liquid, "the only nickname I every got from them was beast girl or furball or dogface."  
  
"Oh, that Jean, he so creee-zay." Angelo said sipping his coffee with a pleasant smile.  
  
Aisha looked around a little, then stared Angelo straight in the eye, "Why am I telling you all this, I just met you less then a day ago."  
  
Angelo took another sip of his cup and shrugged, "Well, maybe you feel that, even though you don't know me that well, you can confide in me, I am a pretty good listener…"  
  
"Hmm…" Aisha murmured to herself.  
  
She knew Angelo was right. She couldn't talk to anyone else about how she felt. Jean would laugh, Jim would laugh, Sazuka wouldn't care, Melphina was too far in Jean's lap to pay attention to her. Her parents and family were too far away to understand, and she didn't really keep in touch with any friends from her home. Angelo was an acquaintance that had proven his reliability, he was the perfect person to talk to.  
  
Aisha watched him smile. She really liked that smile, it was warm and caring. She felt content when Angelo smiled like that. Nice ass too.  
  
Aisha sat straight up at her mental realization, surprising Angelo a little.  
  
She had thought a naughty oriented thought about him, she couldn't have, but she did. Her entire Katarl Katarl superiority complex had been compromised. In all her travels through Human space she had never once thought about a Human in such a way. No, it was only a momentary lapse of discipline, she would not let herself think like that again or have feelings for him. In fact, it was weak to be discussing her feelings in the first place. No more, she must be a strong Katarl Katarl warrior. This human was compromising her, she needed to be away from him right now, go home and take a nap or a cold shower or something.  
  
"Aisha, are you ok?" Angelo asked kindly.  
  
She picked up her sport cooler and drained it's last contents, then slammed it on the table, "I'd like to go now."  
  
-------  
  
Jim labored with the giant cart he was pushing in front of him. All the supplies and necessities for a life in space where heaped on the small loading cart with a stiff wheel; food, toilet paper, the usual brand of coffee, among other things, and Jim had to push the heavy cart all the way from the grocery store, to the lift, and to the Outlaw Star.  
  
Behind him, Melphina walked quietly, cute as ever, with a careless smile on her face, carrying a few other bags.  
  
Suddenly, Melphina gasped and halted Jim by the shoulder, she pointed across the street to a small café, "Jim look over there."  
  
Jim made an aggravated sigh, and turned his head slowly, "Do you want a cappuccino?"  
  
"NO!" she yelled slapping him lightly on the shoulder, "Look in the window."  
  
Jim looked more closely. In the giant bay window, that could have used a wash, there was a menu and a sign that said help wanted pasted to it from there inside, and sitting behind the window a Katarl Katarl woman and a blue-haired guy were enjoying a cup of coffee. "Oh…"  
  
Melphina smiled a strange, out of place smile at Jim, "It's Aisha and Angelo…"  
  
Jim raised a puzzled eye brow, "Yeah… so let's go say hi."  
  
Melphina griped Jim's shoulder harder, "No, we can't."  
  
"Why not."  
  
"Do you see anyone else there?"  
  
"No… so?"  
  
"That means they're there alone."  
  
Jim smirk at her, "Your powers of stating the obvious are exceptional."  
  
Melphina smirked back, "Ha, ha…"  
  
Jim shook his head for a moment, "Mel, I know I may be a genius, but I'm still a kid, I don't know everything."  
  
Melphina smiled down at him. She used the hand on his shoulder to ruffle Jim's golden hair, "Sorry, kid."  
  
Jim made a funny growling noise as he tried to stop her.  
  
Melphina used that hand to point toward the café, "They're on a date."  
  
That caught him a bit off guard. Jim looked up at her just plain baffled, "What?!"  
  
"Is that so hard to believe."  
  
"Yes! Aisha's more of kid then I am."  
  
Melphina frowned down at him, "Well, she is still a woman, and all women need a little romance, regardless of maturity."  
  
"Romance!" Jim was so hysterical he was having some trouble processing it all, "Let's… start over…"  
  
Aisha on a date? The simple concept seemed as just as absurd as Jean swearing off alcohol and taking a vow of celibacy. Aisha had never showed anything partway romantic or that she wanted any romance. She seemed as immature about the subject as a little girl. She never endeavored to look attractive or seductive, whenever she put on something exciting like her dress last night, she just looked like a goofball, and she hated it. She was a tomboy to the core. She didn't even like those corny, romance halos Melphina was always begging Jean to take her to. Why would she be on a date?  
  
And even worse, why was she on a date with this Angelo guy, she knew nothing about him. Why would she fall for a guy she'd only met the night before, when Jim was right there. Not that he liked her or anything, it was just that he didn't get it.  
  
No, the thought of her on a date was out of the question. She was a child.  
  
"You don't know that they are on a date." he said angrily to Melphina.  
  
Melphina frown, "Hey, I just call 'em like I see 'em."  
  
"You are jumping to conclusions. Aisha just probably got really drunk, again, and he bought her a coffee."  
  
Melphina put her hands on her hips, "Well, there is a little coffee at home right, why didn't they just drink the stuff at home."  
  
Jim made a "duh" look, "Uh, gee, I dunno, maybe they wanted some good coffee. Besides there was very little coffee left, Sazuka and Jean probably drank it all."  
  
"All right maybe, but where is everyone else then, huh? Jean likes good coffee too, Sazuka as well, where are they?"  
  
"Ah, you know Sazuka, she's anti-social, and Jean was probably sleeping, that lazy bastard…"  
  
"Oh yeah, well look at their faces. Does he look like he's doing a chore."  
  
Jim took another look at the window. Through it, he could see Angelo's face. He didn't look bored or upset, he was smiling, listening intently to Aisha talking. Aisha was going on and on about something, using her hands and arms to emphasize. She did look like she enjoyed his company.  
  
"See, if he were truly like Jean he would dread taking Aisha anywhere." Melphina cooed in his ear.  
  
"Uhhh…" he sighed.  
  
"Isn't it cute."  
  
"But I don't get it… she met him only last night."  
  
Melphina got a starry-eyed look, "All it takes is one glance and you can fall in love, or maybe in this case that kiss he gave her hand. Ahhh, it's so romantic…"  
  
Jim frowned and turned back to the cart and pushed it down the sidewalk again, "Whatever…" he mumbled.  
  
A sadistic smile grew across Melphina's face, "Why do you care if Aisha goes on a date, anyway?"  
  
Jim frowned even more, "I don't…"  
  
"Ahhh, does little Jimmy have a crush on certain Katarl Katarl girl." she teased as she came up behind him.  
  
Jim didn't let her. He gunned it down the sidewalk, making a bee-line away from Melphina. Melphina was caught by surprised, but regained her composure chased after him.  
  
"Hey… Jim… wait…"  
  
------  
  
Angelo strolled along quietly behind Aisha as she stomped down the tunnel to the bay where the Outlaw Star was being carried. Angelo had his hands in his pockets as he tried to reason why she had suddenly changed her mood.  
  
He watched as Aisha went on her way. She stomped like she had something on her mind that was really, REALLY bothering her. Angelo just couldn't figure out why Aisha suddenly wanted leave, he thought they were having a good time. Maybe she told him something she didn't want revealed, she had said some pretty personal stuff, and now she was beating herself up for revealing it.  
  
Angelo cleared his throat, "Uh, Aisha, you ok?"  
  
"I'm fine!" she yelled back to him without turning around.  
  
"Hmm… ok, a moody chick…" he mumbled.  
  
Aisha must have picked it up with her giant ears, he should have known, "SHUT UP! YOU DON'T KNOW ME! YOU KNOW NOTHING ABOUT ME!"  
  
Angelo made an aggravated sigh, he was losing his patience with this girl, "Well… I know you're angry right now, that's pretty damn obvious, and I have no idea why…"  
  
"SHUT UP!" she repeated.  
  
Angelo silently restrained himself from bashing her face in, he could see why Jean had such a problem with her.  
  
The two exited the tunnel and entered the dry dock where the Outlaw Star rested peacefully in it's clamps. From across the tarmac, Angelo could see a figure standing on the ramp way up to the ship. He was leaning against the hatch, and even from this far away, Angelo could see the displeased look on his face. For some reason, Jean had a problem with him associating with Aisha, so he guessed Jean was really going to lay into him. Angelo didn't care though, he could take anything Jean dished out.  
  
Aisha made some angry little growling sounds, and he guessed she thought the same thing.  
  
As they neared the ramp way, Jean stood up straight and crossed his arms as he looked at them disappointedly, "Well, if isn't Blunderella and the cradle-robbing prince…"  
  
Angelo smiled at Jean's piss-poor attempt of an insult. Aisha, however, did not. She stormed her way up the ramp.  
  
"SHUT UP YOU HUMAN MORON!"  
  
"Hey watch the racial slurs, dogface…" he said before he was abruptly interrupted.  
  
Aisha smashed her small but muscular frame into Jean as she passed. Jean went flying off the ramp and landed hard onto the tarmac with a yelp. Angelo burst out laughing as Aisha disappeared into the ship.  
  
Angelo was still laughing as Jean pulled himself off the ground, "You'll pay, dogface!" Jean yelled.  
  
Jean turned to Angelo who was calming down now, "So, you're trying to boink Aisha?"  
  
That was slightly less funny then the events that just transpired, Angelo raised an eye brow. Slowing to a chuckle, "Wha…"  
  
Jean pointed a finger at him accusingly, "You went out on a date with her, didn't you! I've got witnesses who said you asked her out for coffee!"  
  
Angelo frowned, "Yes, I did invite her for coffee, but no it was not a date."  
  
"Well then why did you leave the ship with her, there was coffee right here!  
  
Angelo crossed his arms, "No offence Jean, but your coffee tastes like shit, and it actually made me more sleepy. Besides, she was in pain from her hang over, so I said I'd buy her a coffee to help the pain. It was just a nice thing to do."  
  
Jean made a crazy accusing face, "Nice?! Then why didn't you ask anyone else to come, huh? Why did you wake me up, I have a hang over too!"  
  
"Jean, you don't wake up until your are good and ready, you've always been that way, and I couldn't find anyone else, Jim and Melphina had left and Sazuka, don't tell her, but she gives me the creeps."  
  
Jean made a face like he knew what he meant, "Well, then what is this thing between you and Aisha?"  
  
Angelo walked up to his friend, "Jean, my bud, my man. I'm just being nice to a new friend. No, need to be jealous."  
  
Jean scoffed, "I'm not jealous!"  
  
"Well, you don't have to worry about anything, I think she's really mad at me, and I don't know why. She just started yelling, quite a set of pipes on that girl."  
  
"Yeah, and I bet you'd like to clean those pipes, with your roto-router, no   
less…" Jean snickered.  
  
That was one insult Angelo couldn't take, he needed to defend his honor. He leaped and attacked Jean, like a brother would.  
  
-------  
  
Jim put down the coffee mug and stuck his tongue out, "This is bad coffee… why do we keep buying it?"  
  
Melphina frowned at the wall behind Jim, "Where did those coffee stains come from?"  
  
They were interrupted by loud crashing sounds coming there way. A monstrous pair of feet were beating a path closer and closer to the kitchen.  
  
"Aisha's home." Jim said calmly, "And now we can settle this."  
  
"No, you can't…" Melphina tried to warn, but before she could finish Aisha appeared at the entrance.  
  
"Hey Aisha!" Jim called getting her attention before she walked out of sight, "Were you on a date with Angelo?"  
  
Before he realized he had angered the beast, it was too late to do anything about it. Aisha's eyes glowed red, she flashed her sharp, evil fangs, and glared at the two with nothing but venom to spew, "I WAS NOT ON A DATE! LEAVE ME ALONE!"  
  
She started screaming and barreled down the hall. There was a loud crash of metal and a big thud, shortly followed by an aggravated yelp, she must have tripped on the tool box Jim left in the hall way. Jim would probably pay for that later. Aisha screamed some more as a door slid open and then slammed shout, which was odd because the doors where on automatic hydraulics, and they didn't slam shut.  
  
After a few moments of shear silent confusion, Jim turned to Melphina with a smile on his face, "See, I told you so."  
  
Melphina turned back to him and sighed, "You've got a lot to learn about women, little one."  
  
-------  
  
Aisha tore into her room, breathing heavily, and wrenched the not quick enough door shut. She turned all the lights off, fingered the switch for the air conditioning, and stripped down to her undergarments. She leapt into her bed of fluffy comforters and buried face in her pillow.  
  
She looked up sadly, she doubted if anyone would come to see if she was all right. She did just run screaming through the halls, everyone assaulting her with these probing questions and insults about her simple conversation over coffee with Angelo.  
  
"… Stupid Jean… stupid humans… no one cares about me," she whined.  
  
She reached under her pillow and pulled out a tiny doll. It was a worn little beany baby of a red bear with a tan belly and a big brown nose. It was crudely designed with several big imperfections like different sized eyes. She held it between her hands, feeling it's soft fabric.  
  
Why did Angelo have to drag this garbage out into the open. She was perfectly happy pretending she didn't have a problem with her friends, but now she was forced to recognize the issues. She was not having fun anymore, Jean's constant insults were getting to her now, Jim was becoming just as bad as Jean, Sazuka was becoming increasingly distant, and Melphina did nothing to stop Jean, her being too preoccupied with him being perfect. She was growing tired.  
  
She was angry at Angelo for making her mad, but she knew in her heart she wasn't mad, maybe a bit happy he'd said something. Now maybe some one could understand her feelings.  
  
"Except for you Kubi Kubi Bear, you understand me… hmm, stupid Angelo… stupid coffee…"  
  
  
(one thing, do not correct me! Until you give me a signed document by the creator of Outlaw Star saying I wrote his Japanese names in English wrong, I'm going to write the names that no one knows how to spell, my way. Deal with it. Keep reading though. Paz.) 


	5. A Necessary Prelude to Destruction

Fumo still doesn't own this despite his years of labor in the anime industry, so he gives up his claim, he's not really Jean Starwind in disguise, he's really Vegeta… tee, hee  
  
Hey, if you like my writing, I have plenty of other great, new stuff. The Wild Turks, a thuggy little mystery and mafia type story for Final Fantasy 7; One of a Kind, my funny action-packed Pokemon fic, using characters of my creation, as well as personal discovery, don't you love that; also, a Scooby Doo fic I wrote for fun, it's funny as hell, trust me, and it needs good ratings, it's called Scoby Doo and the Ghost of Alphonso Rivero's Career, doesn't that sound intelligently fun! Hey, maybe I can start a fan club, shabby! (give it up Fumo; from your sub-conscience)  
  
Outlaw Galaxy: Old Habits Die Hard  
Chapter 5  
  
  
Jean stepped into the proper stance, right foot behind, left in front, turned side ways, knees bent. He kept his eyes squarely in front of him, waiting for the right time. Arms prepared behind his back, as the machine across from him fired. As his target barreled toward him, he swung his hands out and steeped into his swing.   
  
Despite his perfect preparation, the bat in his hands struck the baseball at an imperfect angle, slightly to the bottom of the rapidly spinning circumference. The resulting change in momentum shot the ball straight up at the batting cage above him. The ball ricocheted off the top bar and cascaded down at Jean.  
  
Jean instinctually covered his face with his hands and backed away. The ball came down and narrowly missed him, hitting the hard concrete, bounced a few times and rolled away harmlessly. Jean unshielded his face and sighed in disappointment.  
  
"Nice one, Jean." Angelo called sarcastically as he leaned against a pole behind Jean's batter's cage. He was no longer in his dress-up clothes, now he donned his standard baggy black pants, gray insolated shirt, and white gloves.  
  
They'd come here right after they went to Angelo's cheap little studio apartment in the lower class section of Blue Heaven. It was filled with a simple cot, some space chest for carrying things, some pieces of clothes, and a bathroom, that was basically it. When Jean had gone there, he had first wondered why some one would live like that if he could shell out 1,300 for a meal and not come out depressed.  
  
Jean looked back at the other end of the enclosed batting cage, where the Baseball shooting machine had stopped it's incessant tumbling and rotating. His wong had run out, no more balls to redeem himself with.  
  
"That last one counted as a hit." Jean said turning for the door.  
  
Angelo frowned at him, "Yeah, in Horribleville." Angelo said sarcastically.  
  
"Hey, you said who every gets the most hits has to pay! Not good hits!"  
  
Angelo frowned more so, "Yeah right, that's implied!"  
  
"Naw uh!" Jean said opening the door and handing his bat to a small kid who was waiting patiently.  
  
Angelo pushed off the pole, "It's not considered a hit, when you nearly get pegged in the face! Now, it's my 6 to your 5, you owe me some cotton candy, bitch."  
  
Jean slouched and sighed, "Fine… I can afford it"  
  
Angelo smiled pleasantly to himself and started walking towards the bulk of the park.  
  
The park was a fairly large amusement park near the Upper Starside of Blue Heaven. It's old-style Earth carnival looks where a pleasant alternative to the metal conduits and concrete streets of Blue Heaven. It was complete with ferris wheels and roller coasters, games and endless food stands, even synthetic grass that could have been real. Being it was a school day, and only one or so in the afternoon, the park was full of kids playing hooky, but it was still generally quiet.  
  
Angelo walked along merrily as Jean dragged along behind him, "Speaking of affording…" Angelo started.  
  
Angelo brought it up, Jean didn't, he was innocent from his next probing question.  
  
Jean quickened his pace to catch up with Angelo, "Yeah, speaking of affording shit, how come you can afford huge-ass dinners, but you live in a shit hole."  
  
Angelo turned to him with a frown, "It's only my temporary shit hole, I'm not gonna settle down there…"  
  
"Then where did you get the money for a 1,300 wong dinner?!"  
  
"Oh, come on," Angelo said pushing past a group of dirty looking teenagers who were crowded around a water gun game, "Can't I spend a little money on a friend I haven't seen for a long time and I thought was in jail or dead?"  
  
"Yeah, but only if you have it." Jean accused, "Didn't you say you had a very low paying job on those Microbes of yours?"  
  
"Microids." Angelo corrected  
  
"Whatever."  
  
"Well…" Angelo started, "I sold that crappy ship, the Firestarter."  
  
"Oh…"  
  
"It went for a good chunk of change. I could certainly afford a 1,300 dinner for my best bud."  
  
"Oh…"  
  
"And I could ask you the same question."  
  
"Hmm?"  
  
"I've heard from some of your compatriots, that you've recently come into a lot of money…"  
  
Jean smiled at Angelo, "Yeah, actually."  
  
"Where did you get it and how much do you got?"  
  
Jean glanced quickly at a man in a giant dog suit, then back at Angelo as they walked along, "We recently raided some of the McDougals' accounts, they don't need 'em now. And I would say about… 2 and a half mil."  
  
"2 and a half mil!?" Angelo yelled in astonishment a little too loud, attracting the attention of several passer-bys.  
  
Jean put his hands in his pockets and his head down as he walked forward, "Don't get too attached, more then half of it's going to pay our bill to Fred Loe."  
  
Angelo was stumbling behind as Jean continued walking, "2 and a half mil? That's more then we've ever seen in our lives!"  
  
"I know, Angie." Jean said as he continued forward sighing to himself.  
  
"Wha? Where is it, do you keep it on you?"  
  
Jean smirked at Angelo, "Yeah, I got 2 million wong in my wallet right now, the rest's at home." Jean said sarcastically, but when seeing that Angelo was serious, he continued truthfully, "I keep it in cases in the storage room, in large bills and small bills, depending on the case, all unmarked, and real… I think…"  
  
Angelo returned to his somber smile, "Just like in the olden days."  
  
Jean smiled, "Don't trust banks that you could rob yourself, that's our motto. You know, access to our large expenditure is just one benefit of a job at Starwind & Hawking Enterprises."  
  
Angelo chuckled to himself, "I'll be sure to take that into account when I decide."  
  
Jean sighed. Even tough he knew Angelo would never lie to him, he got the feeling lately that Angelo was trying to hide something or was planning something under his nose. Jean was worried, but only a little, that when this supposed plan was revealed he would have to chose between his present, his crew, or the past, his beat friend in the universe.  
  
Angelo and Jean finally made it to a vendor selling pink and blue cotton candy. Angelo pointed to it and smiled.  
  
"Go get me a pink one, bitch."  
  
Jean growled at him, "Stop calling me that. I'm not your bitch."  
  
Angelo smirked at him, "Oh, stop your bitchin', bitch."  
  
Jean sighed and went about his way. Buying two big fluffs of the pink cotton candy. Returning, the two found a nice spot to eat the edible insulation foam and watch the world go by. It was a long bridge over an artificial pond filled with algae water and tiny pieces of thrown away paper. Jean and Angelo leaned against the rail as the park goers walked by on this lazy Wednesday afternoon.  
  
The cotton candy was a little stale, the water and space-scape was depressing to look at, and those stupid punk kids thought they were so cool skipping school, but Jean was happy to sit with his friend and chill.  
  
"Jean…" Angelo said with some worry in his voice.  
  
"Wha…" Jean said chomping his cotton candy.  
  
"I wanna talk to you about Aisha."  
  
"What you asking for her hand in marriage?"  
  
"Shut up…" Angelo looked serious, but couldn't make eye contact with Jean.  
  
"What?!" Jean asked annoyingly.  
  
"You really upset her, you know?"  
  
Jean stopped eating his candy, "Huh?"  
  
Angelo took a small bite, "She really doesn't like how you treat her."  
  
Jean seeshed, "Please! What's she been telling you?!"  
  
"She's been telling me you don't treat her right…"  
  
"What? She just told you this today?"  
  
"Yeah…"  
  
"All right!" Jean pushed off the rail, and stared Angelo straight in the face, "What is this thing between you and Aisha? I don't buy this friend shit anymore?"  
  
Angelo stared back, "Don't change the subject, you're really bringing her down with your constant insults."  
  
"Aaagh…" Jean blurted as he rested against the rail again, "She can take it, she's too dense to be hurt."  
  
"See that's what I'm talking about, you just can't help yourself, that's what's upsetting her. And no, she's not, she is hurt by your insults."  
  
Jean looked away, "Come on…"  
  
Angelo continued his penetrating gaze, "I'm serious! She feels unappreciated, like no one cares about her."  
  
"Oh please, we care about her, she's our strong-arm."  
  
"That's another thing, she feels unappreciated and like all she's good for to you is grunt work. She thinks you only keep her so you can use her."  
  
"Bah…" Jean gulped his cotton candy in one bite, and crossed his arms.  
  
"What is with you anyway, why can't you just say something nice to her once in awhile?"  
  
"She's annoying and I let her know, that's all. Besides why do you put up with her, you'd never have been so freakin' nice to her before."  
  
Angelo ate some of his cotton candy, "Well, if you can change from a dare-devil to a love-struck puppy in four years, then I can change from an insensitive prick to a sensitive prick."  
  
Jean frowned still, "I don't care, I'm not gonna change for a geeky little priss like Aisha Clanclan, queen of the universe."  
  
Angelo looked back at the ground, "Then do it for me, cause if my old friend and my new friend can't get along with each other, then me joining your crew just won't work out."  
  
Jean looked at him, "But that's not fair!"  
  
Angelo looked at him with confusion, "What's unfair, you being nice once and awhile? People can be annoying, you just have to deal with it."  
  
Jean made a exasperated sigh, "Fine… I'll try to be nicer to her."  
  
Angelo smiled at him, "All right, you made a good choose, and you know the best way to make a Katarl Katarl forgive you don't you?"  
  
Jean nodded, "Though her stomach…"  
  
-------  
  
"Pizza!" Jean called as he walked into the kitchen carrying several pizza boxes with him.  
  
Angelo followed close behind him carrying more boxes, smiling brightly.  
  
The crew already in the mess hall looked up at Jean in confusion. Melphina and Sazuka, who sat playing a chess game, but looked more like Sazuka was playing and Melphina was getting her ass kicked, turned up to look at Jean with a slightly puzzled look in their eyes. Jim looked up from the old-style paperback book, a copy of the Tolstoy's classic War and Peace.  
  
"What?" Jim asked looking up.  
  
Jean smiled, "I bought pizza."  
  
Jim looked at Melphina and then back at Jean, "Why?"  
  
Jean's smile faded gradually, "Just to be nice?"  
  
Sazuka snorted in her dainty way, "Cheapskate Starwind buying pizzas just to be nice?"  
  
Melphina smiled and got up from her seat, "I think that's great, you got pizzas so I wouldn't have to cook, that was thoughtful."  
  
Jean turned to Angelo and smiled knowingly, and Angelo returned it. Melphina went to the kitchen to fetch some plates and Jim and Sazuka cleared the table. Angelo and Jean set their boxes down and took their chairs. Opening one of the boxes, Jim made a grossed out face.  
  
"Ewww, this pizza is covered in pepperoni, sausage… steak… ground beef, bacon… Canadian bacon, I can't even see the cheese. This is like a giant heart-attack pizza, the only one who would eat this pizza would be…"  
  
"I got it for Aisha." Jean interrupted, as he grabbed a slice with bell peppers.  
  
The entire room froze, as Jean said that. Jim held the pizza box firmly in his hands as he looked at Jean with disbelief. Melphina dropped a fork on the floor as she turned to look at Jean as well. Sazuka stopped mid grab for a piece with mushrooms and olives, and burned her hand. All except, Angelo, who was seated patiently waiting for his piece of pizza.  
  
"Is is so inconceivable that my man thought of some one else?" Angelo asked rhetorically.  
  
"Jean thinking of what Aisha would want, yes!" Jim jeered.  
  
Jean shook his head in seeming shame, but knowing Jean it probably was just a show. "Oh, come on it's not that out of the ordinary."  
  
Melphina returned with the plates, "Actually, it is, but I think it's great that you did." She said as she gave Jean a quick hug from behind.  
  
"So where is she, anyway?" Jean said as he took a bit of his pizza, but burned his tongue and put down on a plate.  
  
"Uhh… she's been in her room every since she came home this afternoon" Jim said glancing at Melphina indiscreetly.  
  
"But that was like 4 hours ago!" Jean said in amazement.  
  
Melphina returned his knowing glance, "Yeah, something must have really upset her…"  
  
Melphina and Jim glared at Jean, as Sazuka chuckled to herself. Jean made a helpless look.  
  
"It wasn't me, she was mad before I said anything. When she was out with…"  
  
All eyes turned to Angelo, who looked innocently them with a piece of cheese hanging out of his mouth from his slice of pepperoni.  
  
He swallowed it and wiped his mouth with a napkin, "Ok, I'll admit I must have made her upset, I don't know though, but I'll go make peace."  
  
Angelo got up and walked to the door and turned. He walked a few feet, then realized he didn't know where Aisha's room was.  
  
"Hey…" Angelo heard Jean call as Jean came from around the corner, "It's wise to apologize with food so here." he presented to Angelo the box of pizza with the "Heart Attack Special" in it.  
  
Angelo sneered, "Sure she won't bite my hands off?"  
  
Jean sneered, "I'd use tongs if I were you."  
  
Angelo waved the box off, "No thanks man, that's your peace offering, and you're probably gonna need it."  
  
"Thanks for you concern." Jean said sarcastically.  
  
"So where is her room?"  
  
Jean pointed to a closed door at the end of the corridor, "Right there, man. And… can you ask her to come see me afterwards.  
  
Angelo smiled in approval at his friend, "Ok."  
  
Angelo walked down the hall toward the door. When he got to the door he gave a few hard taps. When there was no answer, Angelo fingered the button on the side of the door, the door was unlocked and it slide open on shaky hydraulic pumps.  
  
Inside, it was dark and cold. It was void of any artificial lights, and she had the visor on her porthole tightly closed. The air conditioning was on full blast, in Angelo's estimation, he could have kept ice in that room. Angelo fumbled along the wall for a light switch, he could barely make out a bed and large lump on top of it.  
  
"Don't turn on the light. Please leave me alone…" Aisha's voice could be heard from the lump.  
  
Angelo wandered in carefully, "Aisha it's me."  
  
There was no reply.  
  
Angelo felt around and found the edge of the bed, and carefully lowered himself on to the side, "Aisha, I'm really sorry… I didn't want to make you feel bad…" Angelo said with sympathy.  
  
From the bed he heard some movement under the covers, "You didn't do anything… I've just been thinking"  
  
"Well, I'm sorry I made you think."  
  
There was more movement under the covers, but no answer.  
  
"Why… why did you get so angry before, what did I do?"  
  
Aisha's head suddenly appeared from under the bottom edge of the covers, her gray hair a mess. "I'm sorry about that it's just… maybe it was your fault, maybe it was something I just needed to vent, but…"  
  
Angelo winced in the darkness, Aisha chuckled a little to herself .  
  
"Well, It's just that your question made me think of all the things I don't like about being here…"  
  
"Oh…"  
  
"I just wanted to be alone for awhile…"  
  
"Well, all I can say is I'm sorry I made you feel bad, but you know, if you let your feelings boil up inside of you, you're just gonna feel worse. All I can say is, these people, no matter how snotty or dumb they act, they really do care about you."  
  
Aisha smiled in the dark, and made a little satisfied sound.  
  
"Have you been 'thinking' for the four hours since you got here?" Angelo asked looking around.  
  
"No, I thought for a few minutes, then fell asleep, I didn't get enough caffeine, and then you woke me up."  
  
Angelo chuckled to himself, and quickly leaped off the bed, "Well kitty cat, I'm not sorry for that. You've been in here for too long. The night is young, the pizza's hot, and people have got things to say to you!" he said in a booming voice, as he grabbed a hold of the large comforter and yanking it off Aisha and threw it to the corner of the room.  
  
Aisha squealed as she tried to shield her nearly naked body. Angelo didn't stay to see it anyway, he quickly turned and left the room, slapping the door switch as he left so the hydraulic door closed behind him.  
  
Angelo chuckled as he walked back into the hallway. Jean was still waiting there, propped against the wall a few yards down the hall, pizza box in hand. Jean gave Angelo an inquiring look, and Angelo shrugged back.  
  
"She'll be out in a second."  
  
In several seconds, the door to Aisha's room slid open, and out came Aisha. Her hair was tied with a hair band, she was wearing a big human t-shirt and a big pair of draw-string shorts that looked a little dirty.  
  
"Hey Angelo did you say pizza…" She said but stopped short when she saw Jean was waiting in the hall as well.  
  
Jean sort of shuffled to the side and looked at his feet, "Um… I wanna apologize to you Aisha…"  
  
Aisha raised one eye brow, and made a confused look, "You wanna what?"  
  
Jean looked to Angelo, Angelo gave him a little smile. Jean scratched the back of his head, "Well… I know, sometimes… I can be kinda cruel, and so… I wanna say I'm sorry, and I'll try to be nicer from now on."  
  
Aisha turned toward Angelo, who gave her a little smile as well. Aisha turned back with a smile, "Thanks Jean."  
  
Jean held out the box, "I also got you a… peace offering."  
  
Aisha all at once tackled Jean, giving him a huge hug. Her arms wrapped all around Jean, squeezing his body tight. Jean looked out in a disturbed manner, confused about what had happened and about what to do next. Angelo contained a chuckle.  
  
"Oh Jean! You're so sweet! No wonder Melphina loves you so much" Aisha squealed into his chest.  
  
Jean winced, "Uh, thanks."  
  
Aisha finally let go of him. Immediately she grabbed the pizza box out his out stretched hands. She opened it and studied it's contents, she then gave a resounding delighted yell and blasted past Jean, nearly knocking him over, down the hall and turned into the kitchen. Within the steely walls of the mess hall, Aisha could be heard yelling inaudible things gleefully.  
  
Angelo couldn't suppress his amusement at the situation any longer, he balled out laughing. Jean wasn't as merry, he gave out an exasperated sigh and slouched in his stance.  
  
Jean rubbed the back of his head, "I hate saying sorry…" Jean mumbled.  
  
Angelo recomposed himself, wiping a tear from his eye, "You're a sweet guy, Jean."  
  
Jean gave him a sly smirk, "Bite me, Angie."  
  
(I'm back in the mood I guess, review it and I'll finish it some day) 


End file.
